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I have been given permission to remove several rooms of cedar paneling (real 50+ year old) from a home that is to be demolished.
My past experience/frustration from splitting cedar boards when using a “wonderbar” leaves me unexcited trying to salvage. I’m wondering about taking a Sawzall between the boards and nailers.
Any tips appreciated, except the “High-energy electro-magnetic nail-puller”, my lowly contribution the the energy problems on the left coast.
H. C. Haynes
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Replies
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Howdy "H",
I'd say that a stanley wonder bar is a might thick for this operation. Too thick means too much pressure on the edge of the wood before you even get close to the nail and then... splitto... My first choice would be a thin yet max stiff putty knife or a wallpaper scraping knife (looks like a hamburger spatula but has a very stiff blade). Next choice would be to punch the nails through with a set.
Good luck and just resign yourself to ~20% loss. But hey, it's free!
BeWell, PB
*Get a nice long and thin punch pin. Pick up a japanese style prybar. Much thinner and wider than a standard flet bar. And, it the punch doesn't work, use the aggressive nail puller end of the jap-bar to cut into the wood and grab the nail head. These bars are great, and with a tap of the hammer will cut into and grab a headless nail. Jeff
*The Japanese pry bars are nice or you can grind down a standard bar ....works almost as well. Lennox makes a nice handle for for hacksaw blades ...good for slipping in behind to cut the nails ...then pull them through from the backside afterwards.
*Use the sawzall with some good quality bimetal blades. You will find that this is the fastest waY to get the most wood off and will do the least damage. Use a nail set and some end nippers to finish cleaning the wood after it is down. Take a little time to make a long work bench and it should go smooth. I tried several techniques last winter removing about 3500 bdft of mahogany and that is what I settled on. Skip
*Never thought of the hack saw or sawzaw! Even better than a pry. Jeff
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I have been given permission to remove several rooms of cedar paneling (real 50+ year old) from a home that is to be demolished.
My past experience/frustration from splitting cedar boards when using a "wonderbar" leaves me unexcited trying to salvage. I'm wondering about taking a Sawzall between the boards and nailers.
Any tips appreciated, except the "High-energy electro-magnetic nail-puller", my lowly contribution the the energy problems on the left coast.
H. C. Haynes