Blocks, Boards & Gaps

Wood Floor Repairs in London

Loose and hollow blocks re-fixed, split boards replaced with reclaimed timber, gaps filled, and the floor made good before it is sanded. Watch one of our directors fix a rocking parquet block below.

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A hollow block re-fixed in place: drill a small hole, syringe adhesive underneath, wipe it clean. No need to lift the floor.

The Most Common Call

Loose, Hollow and Rocking Blocks

Original parquet was stuck down with bitumen, and bitumen has a shelf life. After several decades it dries out, goes brittle and lets go, so blocks start to lift, rock underfoot or sound hollow when you walk over them. It is the single most common repair we get called out for, and it is rarely as serious as it feels.

You do not need to lift a whole floor for a handful of loose blocks. Where a block has come right up, we lift it, clean the old adhesive off the timber and the subfloor, and re-bed it in modern parquet adhesive. Where a block is still in place but has gone hollow, we can fix it without disturbing the pattern at all: a small hole drilled through it, adhesive syringed underneath to fill the void, the block weighted down and the surface wiped clean. That is the job in the video at the top of this page.

Matched, Not Patched

Split, Cracked and Missing Boards

Boards split along the grain, crack where an old fixing has worked through, or go missing entirely where a plumber or an electrician has been under the floor and not put things back. We cut out the damaged boards and replace them with reclaimed timber of the same age, species and size, so the repair carries the same colour and character as everything around it.

The reason we use reclaimed wood rather than new is simple: new timber never blends. It sits brighter, takes finish differently and always announces itself, even after a sand. Matched reclaimed boards, sanded and finished together with the rest of the floor, vanish. There is more on how we do this on pine floors in our write-up on repairing pine floors with reclaimed boards.

Filled to Move

Gaps Between the Boards

Old floors gap. Timber shrinks as it dries over the years, and by the time a Victorian pine floor reaches you there can be a finger-width between some boards. We close them with a flexible filler that moves with the timber through the seasons, expanding and contracting as the boards do, rather than a hard resin that would crack straight back out of a floor that is still alive underneath.

That distinction matters, and it is not the same on every floor. On glued-down parquet, where the blocks cannot move, resin is exactly right. On suspended boards it is the wrong tool. We have written up the whole argument in flexible filler versus resin for gap filling, because getting it wrong is one of the more common mistakes we are called in to put right.

Made Sound Again

Water Damage, Cupping and Squeaks

A leak, a spill left too long or a radiator that has wept for years leaves its mark. Boards cup as they swell, blacken where the water sat, and sometimes go soft. Where a board has dried back out, cupping can usually be sanded flat once the moisture has gone. Where it has gone black or spongy, it has gone too far and is better cut out and replaced with matched timber than sanded over and forgotten.

Squeaks are their own small job. A squeak is movement, a board rubbing against a fixing or a joist that has loosened over time. We re-secure the boards and fix down properly into the joist where an old nail has stopped holding. None of this is glamorous, but a floor that is quiet, flat and solid underfoot is the whole point of getting the repairs right before anything else happens.

The Right Order

Making Good Before a Sand

Repairs come first, always. Loose blocks fixed, split boards swapped, gaps closed, squeaks silenced, and only then does the sanding start. Do it the other way round and you are sanding a floor that is still moving, then patching afterwards and hoping it blends. It never quite does.

Once the floor is sound, the whole thing gets our three-stage sand and finish as a single surface, so the old wood and the new repairs read as one floor rather than a floor with visible mends in it. You can see how that final stage works on our floor sanding page, and for pattern floors specifically on the parquet restoration page, where re-fixing loose blocks is the starting point of nearly every job.

A loose parquet block being re-fixed with a syringe of adhesive by Howard Naish before the floor is sanded

No Surprises

What Every Repair Quote Includes

A free site visit and an honest verdict on what actually needs fixing
Loose and hollow blocks re-fixed, by lifting and re-bedding or by syringe injection
Split and missing boards replaced with matched reclaimed timber, not new wood
Gaps filled with a flexible filler that moves with the floor through the seasons
Squeaks and loose fixings secured down into the joists
Repairs completed before any three-stage sand, so old and new read as one
A fixed written quote, with no obligation

Straight Answers

Repair Questions, Answered

Can you fix a few loose blocks without redoing the whole floor?

Yes. A handful of loose or hollow blocks does not mean lifting a whole floor. We re-fix the ones that have let go, either by lifting and re-bedding them or by drilling a small hole and syringe-injecting adhesive underneath, then wiping it clean. It is a repair, not a rebuild.

Do I need a full sand after repairs?

Not always. If a couple of blocks or a single board have been swapped and the surrounding floor is sound, a spot repair can blend in without touching the rest. But where repairs are spread across the floor, a three-stage sand and finish of the whole area is what makes old and new read as one. On the free site visit we will tell you honestly which your floor needs.

Can you match old boards and blocks?

Yes. We match the species and the size from reclaimed stock wherever we can, because old timber already has the colour and patina that new wood does not. Once the floor is sanded and finished together, a well-matched repair disappears. New wood dropped into an old floor almost never blends, which is why we avoid it.

My floor squeaks, can that be fixed?

Usually, yes. A squeak is almost always movement: a board rubbing against a fixing or a joist that has worked loose over the years. We re-secure the offending boards, and where a nail has stopped holding we fix down into the joist properly. It is quiet, unglamorous work, but it is the difference between a floor you notice and one you do not.

Can you fix water-damaged boards?

Often. Cupped boards that have dried back out can be sanded flat again once the moisture is gone. Boards that have gone black or spongy have usually gone too far and are best cut out and replaced with matched timber. We will tell you which is which on the visit, rather than sanding over a problem that comes back.

Do repairs have to be sanded to blend in?

To vanish completely, yes. A fresh repair sits proud of the old finish and shows a different colour until the whole floor is sanded and finished as one. If you are having the floor done anyway, repairs are simply the first stage. If you are not, a spot repair will be sound and safe, it just will not be invisible until the next full sand.

Thirty Seconds, Four Boxes

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