Filling holes in a floor

[Mrs Pingu]

I had a radiator moved in the kitchen. This has left me with 2 holes in the floor (which is floorboards with hardboard on top for under sheet vinyl flooring).
I will be getting the sheet vinyl replaced so I need to fill these holes in.
What's the most pain free way to do this? I don't have a plug making tool and I am not prying the hardboard up to replace it.
I know in theory I need some sort of dowel or plug, just thinking about how I avoid ending up in a situation where I hammer a plug in for it to end up sitting proud...

[Kim]

Expanding foam? 

[Mr Larrington]

Expanding foam?

What could possibly go wrong?

[Mrs Pingu]

Expanding foam? 

Seems like a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but it does have the advantage of being easy to trim...

[Mrs Pingu]

Expanding foam?

What could possibly go wrong?

Well done on finding that so quickly 

[Mrs Pingu]

Ooh I've just had an idea!
Wine bottle corks!




Bet they are not big enough.

[Mr Larrington]

Expanding foam?

What could possibly go wrong?

Well done on finding that so quickly 

It was a POTD…

[Mrs Pingu]

Do you know what? I'm sure Pingu had some tapered wooden or cork bungs kicking about in a drawer from the days he used to work behind the bar at the local beer festival.
I expect I threw them all out in the great pre-move purge.

[Mrs Pingu]

Found a cork in the bin, looks like it will do the job with a bit of percussive force. There's a square section of missing hardboard round the hole anyway.

[aidan.f]

Lube with some glue before percussing.

[Canardly]

2 part wood filler and sand down.

[Feanor]

Wine bottle corks!

That's exactly what I've used to bung up redundant 15mm radiator pipe 'oles in the floorboards.
I've used a bit of sealant to hold them in place, and banged them in, and then covered it over.

Depending on the diameter of the 'ole, you might need to pare it down with a knife, or in the other direction use a Prosecco cork.

[chrisbainbridge]

If using plugs then they are made so that having knocked them in you take a very sharp chisel and just cut them with the grain and they end up level.  Our builder bodged the plugging of our door frames and skirting board meaning I had to do a whole load of them to make them right.

[Polar Bear]

Wine bottle corks!

That's exactly what I've used to bung up redundant 15mm radiator pipe 'oles in the floorboards.
I've used a bit of sealant to hold them in place, and banged them in, and then covered it over.

Depending on the diameter of the 'ole, you might need to pare it down with a knife, or in the other direction use a Prosecco cork.

This is a bizarre coincidence.  I have a length of floorboard with a couple of knot holes and it came to me that I could plug the holes using a wine bottle cork.

[matthew]

Wine bottle corks!

That's exactly what I've used to bung up redundant 15mm radiator pipe 'oles in the floorboards.
I've used a bit of sealant to hold them in place, and banged them in, and then covered it over.

Depending on the diameter of the 'ole, you might need to pare it down with a knife, or in the other direction use a Prosecco cork.

I was going to say use a cork from something fizzy as it is tapered. bang in with some glue and then cut off level with a sharp chisel.

[Frank9755]

I've used corks in the past when doing similar

[T42]

Great excuse to get one of those whippy little Japanese flush-cut saws.  When I got mine I drilled & plugged a couple of holes in a bench just for the hell of it.

[pcolbeck]

Great excuse to get one of those whippy little Japanese flush-cut saws.  When I got mine I drilled & plugged a couple of holes in a bench just for the hell of it.

+1

I made some raised beds with sleepers. Countersunk all the bolt holes and plugged with 16mm hardwood dowels. Japanese flush cut saw made cutting them flush super easy. Our builder who was doing a patio extension for us at the time (laying massive slabs of random thickness yorkstone is best left to the professionals) was so impressed he borrowed the saw to do some raised beds for his sister.

[ElyDave]

Ooh I've just had an idea!
Wine bottle corks!




Bet they are not big enough.

I was going to suggest layers of cork tile cut to size

[Mrs Pingu]

I could use a thin layer of cork to fill in the gap in the hardboard if I can find the right thickness...

[TPMB12]

If it'll be covered up anyway if bodge it.

Past bodies for holes have included sticking duct tape on the underside then sealant over the tape which is just to hold the sealant which is put in roughly theft let to dry then more on top to make it smooth and flush. I might even use expanding foam to form the back g by squirting it feel into the hole somehow.

I do like the Cork idea.  I lost the end cap for my steerer on the recumbent  so used a simple wine cork to fill the hole, the edges of which were quite sharp so the Cork was left raised above the steerer edge to prevent contact with my hand or something else.

[T42]

Great excuse to get one of those whippy little Japanese flush-cut saws.  When I got mine I drilled & plugged a couple of holes in a bench just for the hell of it.

Kugihiki they're called. Just found the order.

[Valiant]

As most holes are 15-22mm to account for pipes, I use dowels and pu expanding glue. Glue them into place, let it set, then come back with a flush cut saw.