Just realized I was wrong about using wood filler for a big floor gap

I had this half inch gap between my old oak floor and the new kitchen tile. My initial plan was to just pack it with wood filler and sand it smooth, which I did. It looked okay for about a month, but then it started cracking and crumbling out. I talked to a guy at the local hardware store and he said for anything over a quarter inch, you really need to use a backer rod and a flexible caulk made for floors. I redid it with his advice six weeks ago and it's still perfect, no movement at all. Has anyone else had to fix a gap that big and what did you use?

3 comments

3 Comments

alexc9318d ago

Oh man, wood filler is such a trap for that. I did the exact same thing on a gap by my front door. Filled it, painted it, felt clever. Two weeks of people walking on it and it just turned to dust. The backer rod and that flexible floor caulk, like Sikaflex, was the real fix. Stuffed the foam in deep, then a smooth bead of caulk. That was two years ago and you can't even tell.

sam_murphy3918d ago

How deep did you stuff the backer rod? I made that mistake too, pushing it just below the surface. The caulk needs something to push against or it just sinks and cracks. A tight pack makes all the difference. That foam rod is way cheaper than learning the hard way with filler.

bell.laura11d ago

So you're saying the trick is to really jam it in there until it's tight? I always worry about pushing it too far and making the gap deeper. Alexc93 mentioned using floor caulk, did you find that stuff harder to smooth out than regular caulk?