On 12/20/2015 8:46 AM, trader_4 wrote:
On Sunday, December 20, 2015 at 1:02:31 AM UTC-5, Don Y wrote:
On 12/19/2015 11:58 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:

How hard would it be to take out and replace a piece or two after it had
been installed if it gets a bad sctatch or something ? They left about half
a box of the stuff that was installed in the hall. I don't need to now, but
just wondering.

[snip]

If you simply chop off the tongue(s) and drop it in place, you'll end up
with a different seam on that side. Depending on how tighly packed the
pieces, this may prove to be visible (or not).

[E.g., with tongue and groove paneling, the tongue is usually visible
in the installed pieces; it forms a continuous visual surface from
one plank to the next]

I don't understand all the talk about using a saw to cut out sections, etc.
Ralph said he has Pergo. Pergo is a floating floor system. It's not
nailed or glued down, they just push together. If you need to replace
a section, I would think the
easiest thing to do is just pull it apart to get to the bad section, replace
it, then put it back together. I guess if you had a real big room with the
bad spot in the middle it might require a different technique.


Certainly, if the damaged area is near a border, that will work.
However the Pergo does NOT just push together. It locks by joining the
pieces at an angle (~30 degrees) and then pushing down. The only part
that "pushes" together are the end pieces. That said, to "uninstall"
the floor to get to a bad piece in the center requires that you remove
everything from the baseboard into that position (let's say 8' in) and
from one end of the room to the other since it all locks together and
the joints are staggered by 16" to 20" or so.

If somebody accidentally dropped a spinning router in the center of my
living room, I'd damn sure attempt to cut out the section before taking
up the entire floor, numbering everything to reinstall it, etc.

If the "cut and paste" routine that Don and I have offered doesn't work,
removal/replacement of the entire floor remains an option. I suspect,
trader, if you actually installed a Pergo or similar floor system, you'd
agree.