A friend’s home is a teardown. He said I can take the oak floorin (a lot of it is under carpet), but I don’t have a clue how to remove it without damage.
Any suggestions, books etc.
Thanks
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Think this through carefully before you make any plans for the flooring. It will be labor intensive to remove the flooring one piece at a time, without damaging it too badly. And then you have all the old nails to deal with before it can be re-laid.
But, to answer your question ... figure out which way the tongue faces, then carefully drive a thin prybay under the tongue edge and carefully work it up enough to get a stronger bar under the wood. Work you way along like you were prying wood base off the wall. Try to avoid prying up by lifting the tongue, cuz it will break off before the nails loosen.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Edited 1/30/2005 12:28 am ET by Ed Hilton
Another alternative is to equip yourself with something like a Fein Mulitmaster or a Sawzall with a flush cutting attachment and cut the nails off. Then you have to punch them out from the bottom.
Either way, if you value your time at any more than $1.25 an hour, it's probably cheaper to buy new flooring, unless this stuff is really spectacular.
Also, keep in mind that if it has ever been refinished, there might not be enough thickness left to sand it again.
You can count on losing 30% to damage
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IIRC, the suggested method to remove a few pieces is to waste one piecce by sawing down the middle of it, then splitting it and prying it out. Then work from there, board-by board.
Kind of a pain for a whole floor, thoug.
If you have more time than money then save it. The flooring that is.
Ed hilton is on the right track. You'll find though that as you get the feel for how the stuff comes up you won't have to be quite as delicate. I would go slow at first. The trickiest part is not damaging the lower part of the groove side.
Ive had great results with the following method.
1) tyr to determint which way the toungues are facing. You want to expose them, not the grooves. Your probably going to lose the first piece or two just getting started so don't worry about them
2) Take a flat bar and drive the 90 deg. end under one end of a board so the flat end is sticking straght up. Try to get the bar in so the vertical end is just shy of the tongue.
3) While placing yourself on the groove side of the flooring pull the flat bar towards you this should begin to rock the floring up and away from the toungue of the next piece. Work you way down the piece this way until the whole piece is free
4) Repeat........
Witha little practice you'll find you get a feel for how it comes up and each piece will take less time. Two flat bars will also speed things up. Ive used this method many times and realise a max waste of 5-10% depending on the flooring.
Got A friend who owes you a favor? Even better
Good luck
The salvaged flooring could be put to good use as an alternate material. Maybe as wainscoting, or ceiling boards, someplace where it would not have to be refinished.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Yep, way more time than money. I'm just a DYI-er out of necessity. The wife and I looked a "Pergo" type material and it's just too much with all the other stuff this old turn of the centruy house needs. Real oak, way out of the price range.It will not be for a month, and I realize it will be LOTS of work, but that's my learning curve doing stuff I should be paying you guys to do.Thanks for the post and also for the others who posted. BTW, oak does burn well in our woodstove too. Someone around us cut a diseased one and I got some of it.
With a big wrecking bar. Might not be pretty but the woodstove in the shop doesn't care it all burns the same. I think time wise you would be better off to put the hors into profitable work and buy new.
If it's the old 3/8" oak strip flooring that was common 50 years ago up here, don't waste your time- most of it will likely be a pile of splinters before you're done and what you don't wreck won't be of much use to you. If it's 3/4" and hasn't been sanded too many times it may be worth the bother, depending on the relative value of your time and money. This is going to take a lot of labour...
Aeetes
I found a large pile at the dump of almost new maple. I am using a 5 inch grinder with cut off wheel to cut the the staples a little below surface and just leaving the head in the board. It is not too bad of a job. I let my helper work on it while I am tied up or heading to the lumber yard. Sorta cheap labor in a way. I like to save stuff so it is worth it to me. The finish may have a few scratches but in my case it does not bother me. My floors seemed to get scratches from the dog & kids anyhow.
T
Did you ever start something then wish you never had? Choose your battles carefully!
1. Yank out the baseboards in the rooms where you'll be taking out the wood. Most times, the flooring runs beneath it, and you don't want it trapped.
2.Make a handful of wedges out of 2x4, maybe 12" long or so, tapering to a point.
3. Remove enough flooring on the tongue side to permit the wedges to be slid underneath, spaced along the length of the run.
4. Start tapping in the wedges with a sledge or maul, working your way down. The wood will start to come up. Be gentle and you won't split too many tongues. Most times, the stuff comes up pretty easily.
5. Once you get a few rows up, haul 'em out and keep tapping.
It really goes pretty quickly this way, especially if you have a gumby hauling stuff out as you peel it up.
Mike