Fein Super Cut for subfloor removal?
My kitchen subfloor is 5/8″ ply over 1/2″ ply. The upper 5/8″ has the home’s original vinyl attached to it. Rather than go over it with underlayment, or spend hours to trying to scrape it up, I’m thinking about cutting it out and replacing it all together. There is a soft spot in front of the sink and a small termite damaged corner that will need to be replaced anyway.
The problem I’m facing is how to remove the 5/8″ ply without pulling out the kitchen cabinets. The obvious solution would be to cut around the cabinets; However, getting under the toe-kick with any kind of cutting device would be difficult. I notice a local tool rental center has a Fein Super Cut for rent. Would this do the trick? The toe-kick area is 2 3/4″ high and 1 3/4″ deep. There’s clearly not room to fit a tool in the toe-kick space, but the depth appears shallow enough to go in at an angle with a cutting blade.
If not, any other suggestions?
Replies
They make a saw for that. I believe Crain makes it, called a toe kick saw. Might be able to rent one. The Fein will work but will be slow. A sawsall with a long blade will also work if you flex it a little as you cut.
Ditto what ccal said regarding the Fein Supercut. A while back I removed an old hardwood floor in a kitchen remodel and retained and refinished the existing cabinets. I used one of these to cut the hardwood right up to the kicks:http://www.coastaltool.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/a/crain/795_toe_kick_saw.htm?L+coastest+vszw6145ff0a4f0a+1164008959I have a Supercut, and it works wonders for certain applications, but this wouldn't be the tool for this job. The cost of the blades you would consume using the Supercut would exceed the cost of the Crain toe-kick saw.John
Thanks for the link - Looks like the way to go.
Thanks. I thought about my recip saw and flexing a long blade. I may try that first, and then seek out the toe-kick saw.
if you already have a sawzall, these guys make a flush cutting adapter... havent tried it so I cannot speak to how good it is!
http://theflushcut.biz/
I bought a Crain toe kick saw just for that purpose then sold it. I took a 50 loss. To get into the corners I bought and kept the Fein saw/sander combo. It worked great to clean out the corners and remove the sheets. When all was done I reinstalled the kicks and all was perfect. Get extra blades.