HOW I REPLACED a PEELING FLOOR BOARD

Engineered hardwood flooring is a plywood base 3/8" tongue and groove flooring with a thin veneer of hardwood on top. Is every piece perfect? Nope -- as I found out after installing the entire dining room and living room and living with the finished floor for a nice piece of time. One board began to separate. It wasn't just the veneer peeling, part of the plywood was separating.

HERE'S HOW I REMOVED THE OFENDER

Going from a factory end past the damaged part I scored a perpendicular straight line.

CHISEL TO THE RESCUE

I very, very carefully began to chisel the line deeper, then came at it at a shallow angle and took out a sliver.

AND WHAT TO MY WUNDERING EYES SHOULD APPEAR?

That little section I chipped away released the veneer. OK, good start.

CHIP, CHIP, CHIP CHIPPING AWAY

I took my time making sure not to damage any adjacent board and removed the damaged piece down to the cement slab and scraped up all the old glue.

TONGUE AND GROVE

I very accurately cut a replacement piece, trimmed off the tongue and loosely dry fit it in place without driving it all the way down.

Why not drive it all the way down? What if I couldn't get it out without damaging it?

THE FINISHING TOUCH

I added adhesive, used a rubber mallet to tap the board into place and put some weights on it until it set.

I must admit, I gave my self an atta-boy after that.

Never fear a project. Even if you've never done it before. What's the worst that could happen? You'll mess up and be forced to call a professional? But if you study the challenge, think it through, then go at it slowly, who knows, you just might wind up giving yourself an atta-boy -- or atta-girl -- or atta-person...