Can a few deep scratches be fixed without sanding the whole room?

Often, yes. HomeGuide prices single scratches at $25 to $100 each, repaired by filling, sanding, staining and refinishing the spot, or $2 to $6 a square foot across a larger area. It adds that deep scratches often mean replacing sections of the damaged planks instead.

What will it cost to cut out and replace a handful of damaged boards?

The guides land between $5 and $25 a square foot. HomeAdvisor says $6 to $12, Bob Vila $6 to $18, and HomeGuide $5 to $20 in its table but $7 to $25 in its text. HomeAdvisor puts a typical whole repair job at $200 to $600, so ask for a per-board price.

Should the gaps between my floorboards be filled?

Not if they open and close with the seasons. An NWFA magazine article calls those gaps normal and warns that filler put in while the wood is dry can crush board edges once it swells again. Gaps that stay open through the humid months can be filled, slivered or fixed by replacing boards.

I found tiny pellets near a cabinet on my wood floor. Are termites eating the floor?

Not necessarily. UF/IFAS says the West Indian drywood termite favors smaller furniture such as headboards, cabinets and picture frames, and its pellets pile up right under its kick-out holes. Find where they drop from, get an inspection, and treat before any boards are replaced.

When does a new floor make more sense than repairing the old one?

When damage is widespread. HomeGuide says that for severe damage it may be easier to replace the entire floor than to match the existing boards, and prices complete replacement at $6 to $15 a square foot against $10 to $80 for serious water-damage repair. A few bad boards are almost always a repair.

Hardwood Floor Repair in Pompano Beach, FL

Typical repair bill: HomeGuide's national guide puts most wood floor repairs at $500 to $1,500; HomeAdvisor's range is $200 to $600.
Replacing boards: $6 to $12 a square foot at HomeAdvisor and $6 to $18 at Bob Vila, depending on the wood.
Single scratches: HomeGuide prices them at $25 to $100 each, or $2 to $6 a square foot over a larger patch.
Hourly labor: HomeGuide says $30 to $60 an hour, up to $125 where the damage is hard to reach.

Pompano Wood Flooring sends your repair call to a floor mechanic for weaving in replacement boards, filling gouges and fixing hollow or noisy spots. Describe the damage, ideally with a photo, and ask for the price per board or per patch.

Hardwood Floor Repair Types for Dry, Damaged Boards

These are repairs for floors that haven't been soaked. Cupped, swollen or lifted boards after a leak start with drying, which is covered under water-damaged floor repair.

Hands fitting a new oak board into a gap cut in an existing oak floor

Board and section replacement

A split, burned or deeply gouged board is cut out and a new one fitted into the gap. The cutting is the easy part. The harder part is the match: species, width, color and finish sheen all have to blend, which is why replaced boards often get sanded and finished along with the area around them.

Ask: the price per board, and whether finishing the area is included.

Putty knife pressing color-matched filler into a gouge in an oak floor

Scratch, gouge and dent repair

Surface scratches and shallow gouges are filled, sanded level, stained to match and spot-finished. Deep ones that go well into the board usually call for replacing that piece instead, HomeGuide says. If the whole room is covered in fine scratches, that's a refinishing job, not a repair.

Larger scratched area (HomeGuide): $2 to $6 a square foot.

Narrow gaps between strips of a red oak floor in low raking light

Gaps between boards

Wood shrinks as it dries and swells as it takes on moisture, so most floors open small gaps in drier months that close again later. The NWFA's magazine says gap size grows in proportion to board width, and that seasonal gaps show more on solid floors than on engineered. Gaps that stay open through the humid season are the ones worth repairing.

Normal gaps: leave them; filler packed in while the wood is dry can crush the board edges when it swells.
Abnormal gaps: matching filler troweled in and the floor recoated, thin wood slivers glued into wider gaps, or board replacement.

Hand holding an injection syringe at a small drilled hole in an engineered wood floor

Hollow spots and squeaks

A patch of glued floor that sounds hollow underfoot isn't firmly held down. HomeGuide says contractors secure hollow spots with epoxy injections. Squeaks are more of an upstairs problem: HomeGuide traces them to the subfloor separating from the floor joists, which applies to framed floors rather than a concrete slab.

Squeaky floors (HomeGuide): $200 to $1,000 a room, up to $6,000 for severely damaged floors.
Subfloor repair (HomeGuide): $35 to $80 a square foot for small sections.

Small pile of tiny pellets on an oak floor beneath a wooden cabinet

Termite-damaged boards

The West Indian drywood termite is the species UF/IFAS describes for South Florida: its infestations that increase southward along the peninsula and gather in older buildings near the coast. The colony lives entirely inside the wood it eats, and the same publication says it is likelier than other drywood termites to infest small furniture such as headboards, cabinets and picture frames; it doesn't single out floors. Its pellets fall straight below the holes and can be a slip hazard on smooth floors.

Order of work: inspection, then treatment (whole-structure treatment means fumigation or heat), then board replacement.
Inspection (HomeGuide): $0 to $250. Treatment (HomeGuide): $330 to $800 on average.

Installer kneeling on a bare concrete slab and checking it with a moisture meter before a wood floor goes down

Why Pompano Beach homeowners call Pompano Wood Flooring

One local flooring contractor calls back, not a bidding list
Asking costs nothing and commits you to nothing
Ask for the slab moisture readings in writing
Florida doesn't license flooring: ask for the business tax receipt and insurance certificates

Hardwood Floor Repair Costs Line by Line

The national guides price repairs several ways:

Labor (HomeGuide)
$30 to $60 an hour, up to $125 for hard-to-reach areas.
Typical job
$500 to $1,500 at HomeGuide; $200 to $600 at HomeAdvisor.
Refinishing the repaired area (HomeGuide)
$2 to $7 a square foot to stain and refinish.
When repair stops making sense
HomeGuide says severe damage can be easier to replace than to match, and puts complete replacement at $6 to $15 a square foot.

Questions to Settle Before the Repair Visit

Price per board
HomeGuide's own checklist suggests asking whether damaged boards are replaced and what each one costs.
Dust
Ask whether any sanding will use dust-contained equipment.
Gaps and stains
Ask whether gaps get filled and stains bleached before any refinishing.
Insurance, not a license
There's no state flooring license to check (here's why), so the documents worth seeing for a repair are the liability and workers' compensation certificates, plus the payment terms on paper.

See hardwood floor refinishing.