Hello,
I have an oppurtunity to salvage some 30 year old red oak flooring from a church alter 15x 25′. It is the standard 2 1/2″ wide variety. How difficult is it going to be to get the nails or staples out? Would a cats paw and vise grip suffice? I was thinking it would be a days work to get it all out. The floor was sanded once when new and I was thinking there would be enough value in it. Also since it won’t be enough to do my living room I will be buying some new to finish. Will this match ok?
John
Replies
You can probably pull up the old floor fairly well, but you will lose the first 2-3 rows getting access. Use a flat bar to leve up the tongue side. After the flooring is removed, you can use vice grips to pull the nails through from the bottom.
It will be a lot of work. You will not be saving money.
Unless you sand and re-finish the old wood after it is installed next to the new wood, it will not match the new wood. The thickness may be different too, from wear and being sanded already.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
eddie-
next time get some nippers to pull nails and you'll never be the same.View Image
cheers
'Nemo me impune lacesset'No one will provoke me with impunity
>>>It will be a lot of work. You will not be saving money.<<<Yes & NoYes, it will be a lot of work.If you're not doing anything "useful" with that time anyway, you'll save a good deal of money.Besides, you can often get some nice wood floors this way. About 10 years ago I pulled up ~2000 sf of oak and ~1000 sf of heart pine. The oak was a much nicer grain and had board lengths up to 18' and the heart pine was simply beautiful.I floored the downstairs of my old house with this stuff and it turned out phenomenal. All told, I had about 60 hours & less than $1000 in those floors.
Sometimes you win. But I think I remember the OP saying the wood is in a church altar, so it can't be very long pieces.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
red oak at HD by me is less than $3.00 a square ft. Is it really worth your time and effort, especially since you don't have enough to do whole room and may end up with mismatched floor.
I had the opportunity to get a free maple racket ball floor once. After what seemed like an eternity of pulling nails, I gave up and sold it to someone else.
Putting down a maple floor over Advantech, bostitch 2" staples, the inevitable few screw ups had to be CHISELED to pieces off the staples, then the staples pulled after they were bare. Made good kindling.
Red Oak is cheap, I've seen it several times the last year well under 2 dollars a foot.
My labor is free so I considered taking some hard maple from a Gymnasium once .
Three hours into the project and a small pile of wood to show for my efforts and I realized why it was free.. In sanding it level enough had been removed from the top that the spline were nearing the surface in some areas. while other areas had plenty of space.. I would have had to lay each board down in exactly the order I pulled it up in order to not have to do some major resanding..
Note to self: If Frenchy says it's not worth the effort, it must be true.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Thanks, frenchy
I recently discovered that the inlaws have 40yo 3/4 UNFINISHED oak in the entire house that has been covered with carpet since it was new. They bought it under construction and wanted carpet.
I'd thought about getting some of it when they next replace the carpet, but now.....
ain't gonna.Troy Sprout
Square, Level & Plumb Renovations
I agree with the others as to the amount of work involved but if you have the skills the matching part could be solved by using new oak or even a different species to make a border............
Then you have your altar floor and a bit of nice craftsmanship.
On a hill by the harbour
Hello and thanks,
Maybe the whole thing is not worth the time in getting the wood as you say.
I will have to get the floor out of there any way as the alter must be moved.
Should I use a large flooring brute bar. Would running a circular saw with an old
blade through the top help?
John
Yes, cross-cutting into 2-4 foot pieces will help a lot. You're right to use an old blade, cuz you're sure to hit a nail. Set the depth to less than 3/4" and you should be good. 5/8" would be a good starting point.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
pulling up a floor thar has been nailed, not stapled is not that had. Once tou get one board out use a large crowbar loosen one whole course than go back and remove it all the way. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. You wilol have some tine into pulling the nails but with a good pair of nippers its not that bad. good luck
I've reused two oak floors in my time, and each time, we found that the nails could simply be bent under the board, and left in,,,of course, they were "gun" nails, not the cut variety....
I've also resued several floors. In all cases they were quite old and put down with hand driven finish nails, predrilled i assume. It wasn"t that hard to pull them through and it made stacking them and storing til needed easier then had we just bent the nail over.
I think bending the nails might be asking for squeaks.
We use alot of recycled materials and have found that cutting the nails off with a minigrinder (Zipcut wheel) is the fastest.
On a hill by the harbour
Only thing that keeps rolling through my head is that if there is something special about the look of that wood or its patina, might be nice to use as an accent/inlay in a new floor, or be milled into something else. Other than that, I'm on board with giving it a nice new home at a fine landfill somewhere.
Seeking perfection in an imperfect world is a fool's errand. Making something look perfect is a whole 'nother story . . . .