Knowing how to make wood filler is a bonus for you. It helps you make the best wood filler when your hardwood floor cracks or develop gaps. It also makes the process hurdle-free.
We will be outlining how to make wood filler for hardwood floors in this post, to do that, you need to sand a sample wood to get sawdust, then, blend the sawdust with a binding agent before pushing the wood filler into the crack in your hardwood floor, finally, sand the floor.
Read on as we throw more light on how to make wood filler for hardwood floors.
Read: How Do You Keep Your House Warm on Hardwood Floors?
How to Make Wood Filler for Hardwood Floors
Table of Contents
Here are a few tips on how to make wood filler for hardwood floors.
1. Sand a Sample Wood to Get Sawdust
To begin with, you have to ensure the place you are working on is properly ventilated. Do not forget to put on a mask to prevent dust from making its way into your eyes or nose.
To form your wood filler you would need sawdust. All you need to do is sand a sample of the wood you have to get sawdust.
You can use a power sander or a palm sander to gather the sawdust produced with a cardboard piece. If there is surplus sawdust, you can keep it in a safe place, to be used later.
Always sand along in the direction of the wood grain. Make use of fine-grit sandpaper to get a well-grinded wood dust.
2. Blend the Sawdust With a Binding Agent
Before you begin, ensure you wear a disposable hand glove and also make use of a craft stick. Get rid of them once you are done. Position the sawdust in a small heap on a cardboard plate.
Put a bit of wood glue and blend it with a craft stick. Put more wood glue into the mixture and continue blending till it is thick enough.
It is best you make use of white or see-through wood glue, so they can have a similar color to your wood floor. The glue you make use of heavily affects the color of your putty. Here are a few of the glues you can use as a binding agent;
We have wood glue; this glue is widely used by woodworkers. It comes in two varying colors; white and yellow. The recommended one for wood filler is white.
This is to avoid changing the color of the putty. This would help the filler dry and meld perfectly with the rest of the hardwood floor.
We also have epoxy glue. It works best if you are filling up large gaps and cracks in your home. Most of the epoxy glue is transparent; hence, when it dries it blends perfectly with the surrounding wood. It also dries at a fast rate.
Read: Do Hardwood Floors Make Your House Colder?
3. Push the Wood Filler into Your Wood
Once you are done mixing the sawdust and binding agent to your desired taste, scoop the wood filler into the crack you want to fill and spread it.
Stuff the void till it is full using a craft stick. Also, apply another coating of the wood filler on the surface of your hardwood floor. Do not worry if the lump looks protruded, it shrinks up when it gets dry.
4. Sand the Hardwood Wood Floor
Immediately you are certain that the wood filler you applied is already dry, it is necessary you smoother the surface so the level of the hardwood floor remains even. Start by grating off the surplus remnants of wood fillers with a metal putty knife.
You can either make use of a palm sander or a power sander for this purpose. Keep on repeating this process until you are certain the hardwood floor is well leveled.
5. Finish the Wood Filling Venture
Wipe the sanded area with a tack cloth. To hide any possible dent or stain, paint the hardwood floor to rhyme with the color of the rest.
Why Make Your Own Wood Filler?
Since we have told you how to make wood filler for hardwood floors, we believe its also necessary to tell you why you should make your own fillers.
You can make your own wood filler to suit your taste. It would help you create the perfect color for the hardwood floor you want to work on. The binding agent used affects the color of the wood filler. So it would help you make the best choice.
Another reason is because of convenience. You can form your own filler at your own speed without having to bother about store-bought products. You can always form your own wood fillet when you run out of it.
Read: How to Protect Newly Finished Hardwood Floors During Construction
Conclusion
It is for your own good if you can make wood fillers by yourself. It introduces you to varieties of choices and makes you do things at your convenience. We gave a detailed approach on how to make wood filler for the hardwood floors, above.