Fixing Old Floor Boards (Rescuing a 120 year old house) 

Felix is the secret ingredient that brings out the best in Laura. The perfect sidekick.

I really enjoy the subbed German conversations. Your English and Felix's are great but hearing people speak their first language is always beautiful.

"We have to patch the patch." That one hit home. I work in IT ;)

One of the things we do with tiny holes is mix sawdust with varnish or shellac, it works great... save the beautiful floors!!!

I love that you took the time to share the small moment of walking outside and going to get a coffee. It lets us get a feel for the local neighborhood and a quick break from the work. I think it fits in nicely with the storytelling. Nice to see the progress you're making!

Can a fellow builder-maker survive the amount of endorphins a video like this produces? Laura’s joy, the elite tools, the quirky method, the convivial coffee break with a work mate! Creation dreams are made of this.

Laura is finally being able to do what she wished to the house back when she bought it. It is very nice to see that!!!! ❤

Once you’ve sanded you can fill the worm holes with sawdust and glue. It’ll be great :)

The patches remind me of when Japanese artists patch broken ceramics. There is beauty in carful repairs. Yours are certainly beautiful!

Okay, the music in the patching montage towards the end of the video was utterly delightful.

Dear Laura, my recommendation for next such patches is to glue them ONLY on one side of the floor boards. Don't forget that wooden floors tend to 'breathe' through the seasons due to humidity changes. Otherwise these newly patched areas will rupture!

Seriously one of the best thing I ve seen, and I have watched a ton of home improvement channels. The creativity and passion that went into them! Perfect.

not translating the word "geil" makes me grin each time i watch your videos. it's just so perfect.

One thing that always stood out to me in your older videos were your pops of color while working on projects. Fluorescent tapes and such. Saying that, what I’d do, if I were you and putting a personal touch on my home, take a brightly colored epoxy, like greens and blues (that would compliment the woods but stand out) and spread them into the holes and sand down. so instead of hiding the “defect” you’re not only owning it, but highlighting it in your Laura Kampala style. Wormholes would look like mini constellations of colors throughout the space.

It's so lovely to see you being joyful in the house after such a hard journey to get there.

Spray the whole thing now with wood worm treatment and leave it to settle before sanding.

I fully expect there to be a nook somewhere in that house holding a rail for Simone's Coat Hingers

There is something so enjoyable about watching Laura and Felix on a Monday morning, it just makes me smile. Do you think you guys could come to the UK please? The whole country needs to be repaired. That would be so geil!

Pretty amazing how great the floors look beneath the surface. Good save, Laura!

It's a really great idea to save those solid wood flooring, and repairing them with patches of other type of wood makes it so much more unique and gives it more story to tell. Looks good as well. Loving the progress as always Laura!

I've never seen floor patching done before and it looks so good. I learn something from you every video.

*Wow that is an awesome machine. So the floor is a patchwork floor like a patchwork quilt.. I like it... 🙂.*

The music change as Felix started kneeling the wall *perfect*

Your videos are like my therapist appointment every week, thank you Laura

I am ❤️ with the thumbnail! Patchwork is used to prolong the use of loved things. How fitting!

The patches look great! And they'll look even greater after sanding, staining and sealing. At my advanced age, with my lousy eyesight, I can't even see wormholes anymore.

If you cut those patches (or Dutchmen I've heard them called) with tapered edges, they'll always fit perfectly, like a cork in a wine bottle. Also, make the grain run in the same direction or the patches could pop out during wood movement.

Thank you for including more German than usual: I really enjoy it!

Feeding two people on high quality coffee and pastries for under $9 us. OMG, that is fantastic.

I’m a quilter and so appreciate your creative solution for this floor! Bravo!

Laura if you can access PBS This Old House series from USA, I think they address worm holes on floors over the years. I may be wrong, but I think they made a wood putty with sawdust and some type of glue and applied to the whole floor, then sanded, then stained and put polyurethane on top. This may be good for you to look into.

Soo Worth It! You have so much fun ‘working’ on your house…

It’s great you are repairing the old floors - you can’t get old growth wood like that anymore. (At least not in the United States.) Your solution adds visual interest and charm.

Love it!

The wormholes will hold just fine with any type of rigid varnish. You could also fill them with several types of wood fill just dont fill the joints. Looks great so far. Keep up the hard work.

What a gorgeous thumbnail!!! Now to watch the video.

Ich lass ma noch n büschl Liebe für den Felix da. Issn dufter Typ!

I'm actually impressed. Somebody finally found a situation where a Shaper Origin isn't an overpriced piece of crap compared to a Maslow.

Sie und Felix brauchen ein Kick-Starter for new jeans! Hard to believe that happened! So many folks here go to used clothing stores run by the Salvation Army or resale shops for decent recycled jeans.

Thank you for revealing these cool techniques.

Nice patchwork effect. It livens up the otherwise ordinary floorboards.

The shaper origin has been a dream tool of mine for a while, I know a normal router could do this job with a template but it wouldn't be this cool. The patchwork look adds so much personality to the floor, I'm so excited to see this project coming together!

Well, I like how your patches are looking, but I‘m a little concerned how they will be working. You know, wood is working all the time, and the boards of the floor will be moving. A patch which connects two potentially moving pieces of wood will be stressed a lot. Maybe it would be better to make the patch only in one board at the same time. You can of course cut the patch through the gap between the boards too now. The problem with the wormholes is another one which I know from my old house. They are making the holes under the surface, when you plane or sand it, there will be more and more of them.

That shaper is cool, but i'm yearning for a power planer so much more because of the time and effort it would save. There are lots of fun tools to look forward to in the future.

Spray that whole floor with woodworm treatment. Then you can use all the sawdust from sanding with some varnish/oil to fill cracks

Da das Dehnen und Schwinden des Holzes in alle drei Richtungen unterschiedliche Faktoren hat, ist es eigentlich besser, auf die Richtung der Maserung zu achten. Sieht aber trotzdem geil aus.

Spring time will be the time to find an expert in wood floors who knows how to handle those worm holes.

The patches you have added used to be called a Dutchman Joint. Can I suggest that you router a small groove on those patches which span two floorboards. This will look like the gap between floorboards continues through the patch. I am enjoying watching your programmes.

Your idea to patch looks amazing. Can't wait to see the finished floor. As for the wormholes, I would fill with glue mixed with sawdust, just as you did with the gap around the first patch. Tedious? Yes, but easier than more patching. Looking forward to seeing your solution.

You pointed out the first unacceptable hole and I couldn't help but look around at the 10+ larger holes than that that were landlord specialed before I moved into my apartment lol

Every defect gets respect. Except that one! 🙂

I like your posts from Germany! I like your interaction with Felix & the work on your old house. Keep filming 😊

Powder post beetles… likely they are long since dead. Love the reuse repair efforts

Uniquely beautiful just like you Laura. You have a unique outlook on life which only enhances as you do

thank you Laura your the first one to show off how that router works in detail awesome! now i just have to win the lottery to be able to get it LOL but thank you Danke, i think in 150 years they will find the floor cute an well done part of history of how the internet entertained educated and was creative

Love the wood patches

Hallo Laura, das Ausbessern der Dielenbretter mit dieser Methode sieht echt crazy aus. Ich hätte ein wenig Bedenken, dass es beim Schleifen zu sehr unterschiedlichen Abtrag von Weich- und Hartholz kommt. Scheint aber keine Probleme zu bereiten. Weiterhin viel Erfolg und gutes Gelingen !

Love the fixed mailbox 😂😂😂

@Laura Kampf I remember when you were tearing the floor out forever ago, before the knee and before the tiny house and the mobile DJ station and before the trip to LA, and it was a sign that when you looked at the date on the newspaper... It was August 15 (which is also the day that I realized you and I have the exact same birthday, August 15 but in different years). I'm happy to have been a fly on the wall of this project and I think you've really done something great restoring this old house to functionality. Reduce, reuse, and restore, right?

That is FANTASTIC! I love your patch idea. I'd do it in my own house, for sure, and the different colors and small flaws - just perfect! I think once you sand and seal/oil, the wormholes will only add to the look; they don't seem to hurt the actual structural integrity of it at all. Good luck! I think it will be amazing.

i´m so in love with this solution, now i just need a wooden floor, wood and ... well a house hahah anyways, amaaaazing work, you always inspire me , i can't wait to finish my "thesis" to have time to make things

You can do the 'Glue with sawdust' trick to fill little gabs and wholes on the complete floor!

Outstanding. Love my Shaper Origin!!

Wahaha, I was already laughing so hard when you fitted the K-Flex patches. I knew exactly what was going to happen 😆

The video I most want to see is you walking into the house, and taking off your work boots. That will be the point when it is no longer a building site, no longer a restoration project, but a place to be at home.

Just the joy of the exercise seems worth it. Good to see you guys enjoying the process so much

Loved this idea. I don't have such a fancy router, but thinking it's something I could replicate on my floorboards with a few shapes of wood and then and 3D print some router templates for those sizes.

I LOVE the I.S.R.U. floor patching idea! The best thing to make a home out of is other parts of the home.

It was really neat to learn about these tools that I never knew existed. I love it. Thank you again for sharing.

Oh, that pastry looked tasty.

When you finish the floor just fill all the gaps and worm holes with clean fine floor sanding dust and resin and it'll all look mint.

KNEE PADS! Brilliant. I learned (full disclosure: late in life) to put knee pads on immediately when starting work. It changes the issue of dropping to one or both knees to a non issue.

I know it may sound super tedious, but I would bet everything I have that Laura could solicit any number of RU-vid woodworkers that would be able to take the floor from this pre-final state to something absolutely stunning. with the use of some epoxy resin to fill in all the left over tiny imperfections. (Something like a deep amber would look incredible with that wood) I'm so in love with this project and look forward to every Sunday to see how it's going. This house will be her heart when she finished, and like her heart, it'll be wonderfully golden!

Total boat in the worm holes ???? Love this series !!!

20€ gespart aber die Hose versaut 😅 Klassiker! Kenne ich gut 😂🙈 eure Videos sind immer so Klasse und inspirierend! Love it!!!

You could fix the wormholes with black resin. Would be a nice modern contrast to the rest of the floor.

Fixing a 120yo house with technology that is damn near magic lol.

that tool is a game changer

Oh yes! Those patches are perfect! I do hope you end up feeling the floor is worth keeping. It looks so beautiful.

I really like the look and character that the patches add to the floor... it makes me want to add them even when they are not necessary. Lol Great job!

As long as there aren't bugs still making the wormholes, and as long as the timber isn't crumbling, then it is fine to just fill them!

Leave the wormholes as they are!!!! As long as there are no live creatures in there they just add character. When you oil the floor they will fill up a bit and it will look great.

Oooohhh, you sait „portable“. I nearly spat out my coffee because I understood „affordable“😂 But yes. Immediately after you said „floor repair“ I was like „oh yeah, perfect origin job 😄👌🏼

good idea on the patches !!!! their gunna look sooooooo GEIL !!! :D

I LOGE THE PATCHED FLOOR. Sand seal and love it!

You can also use resin and add color flecks. It stabilizes the wood and the spots become a feature!

Cette maison va être un petit bijou et ce genre de petites astuces y contribuent. Beau boulot Laura 👍

It’s probably not a bad idea to treat for woodworm with the holes, though if there’s no sign of sawdust, it’s possibly not active. Still worth treating during construction, just to be on the safe side

Those coffees and treats looked amazing! And so does your patchwork floor. I would love to see you and Matt Cremona collab on a floor project!

Love this look

The half timbered walls are so cool, I wish you could leave them exposed in some places

the patches look beautiful!! I’m hopeful that you’ll be able to save the whole floor

This is completely over the top ridiculous - I love it ! 😉 It would be missing the point to say that all the time, effort and resources needed to achieve this are a waste, it's an experiment and done in an effort to retain the original materials as much as possible. I do hope you can treat the "worm" and stabilise the floor and keep it, I guess we'll have to wait and see !

none of us are getting any younger, great use of foam padding. It is very unique, I hope it is all savable.

My favorite project!!

omg, cant belive that it is already one, two years into the project, it feels like yesterday haha. but i guess its the editing that does this haha

That little sawdust trick is slick as hell! Well done!

It will be a very interesting floor, tons of character and good conversation topic. It adds to the entire feel of the house. Nicely done!

I love the wood patches! Worm wood may need wood hardener if more than a little. Any worse should be patched or replaced if too far gone. One issue with patches across two boards is expansion, which may be impeded by non-gapped patches. Gaps are important to provide room for expansion. In a year's time, you'll know if you need to cut gaps in the patches. Keep up the great work. Was sorry that we couldn't get to enjoy that wonderful coffee break with you. It looked so good!

At the dollar store here they sell gardening knee pads that are foam with velcro straps. They are 3 dollars, as opposed to the 20ish you spend at hardware stores. They are in the gardening section.