I just extended my LR/DR 10 feet and am planning to continue the hardwood flooring in the original LR/DR into the new space. I managed to salvage the same type of flooring (red oak strip) from another house in the neighborhood.
My question is if anyone has any good tips for pulling up boards from the old floor as I piece in the new. The old floor ran perpendicular to the exterior wall that I extended outward, which means I have a lot of work to do. I sure don’t want to crack or otherwise damage any of that old flooring if I can avoid it.
I will be refinishing the entire LR/DR after the floor in the addition is installed, so no worries about minor scratching at the moment.
–AEP
Replies
No particular tips on pulling up the old, other than flatbars to pry up the nailed side, and doing it carefully. But to lace in the new to the old in a staggered pattern, I kneel on a framing square and use it as a guide for my router. Use a cheap 1/4" bit (eventually you'll hit a nail) to make a cut square to the piece of flooring, then square up the corners of the cut with a chisel. To extract to piece run the router down the center of the board, or a little off center to miss the toenails, then pop it out. Vacuum debris, and now you can slip the new piece in.
Here is some information that may help you plan this out.
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
That link Calvin posted is great to help visualize much of it.
The problem area that seems to always get me is how to pull the floor up without having the nails crack the tonge. At least in our neck of the woods there isn't enough wood movement from season to season to loosen the nails much.
Perhaps a multimaster would be good to actually cut the nails if the floor is pulled up a bit, but that sounds expensive given what multimaster blades go for. A sawzall with finetooth blade can work, but the tip often jabs into the subfloor and kicks back.
Perhaps a thin pry bar can be used to shear the nails. Maybe the boards can be pried up, the nail wedged tight as possible with a thin bar and the floor let down exposing the nail head which is then pulled with end nippers. A lot of what would work well depends on the type of nails and how well they are attached.
One floor had nails with rather large heads so each nail could be grabbed with good end nippers and twisted out easily. Other floors have thin finish nails which could be set clear through the wood. Others have cleats or staples that weren't possible to drive through and too tight to get the head where it could be grabbed.
When working along a long edge don't underestimate the value of long tapered shims to ease the floor up off the deck to where it can be pulled more easily. Pine shims work much better than the softer cedar.
Salvage floors sound great until those free boards cost $2/sqft or more in labor to pull up.
Best of luck.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
Just did it the other day.
Wedge up end of flooring slightly. Run sawzall underneath and cut off nails (even cuts cut nails which were typical awhile back). Proceed slowly. You can figure on 15-20SF/hour this method.
Jeff
to be perfectly honest with you it would be easier to rip up the old floor and start fresh, and faster too
but if you have nothing but time and ambition.....
Strip flooring is a lot easier than T&G. If you start at the end you should be able to move down the board as you pry it up. For what you want to do, I would mark the ends where you will want to cut the flooring (to get the staggered joints) before you start. Pry the board up so you can make a cut with a circular saw. Once you get a couple out of the way you should not have much trouble prying up the rest.
Some of those old boards can be brittle, so they will break occasionally.
Thanks to all - I have a few good techniques to try now and will give an update on what works best once I get started. I'm still finishing the walls and it will be at least 10 days before I am ready to tackle the floor. I'm guessing I'm going to have to sacrifice a few boards, particularly at the start, in order to pull up the rest without damaging them.AEP