When patching a hole in a tongue and groove floor, why do you commonly have to remove boards on both sides of the hole?

Answer - Just patching the hole would be too obvious. By breaking up the pattern, it blends in better. In this case, boards 1 to 4 would be removed. 5 and 6 are too long to be taken out, so they'd have to be trimmed if the ends weren't square.

Learn more on pages 347 - 348