St. Catharines and area hardwood flooring

Archive for the 'Ripping Out Old Flooring' Category

What would be the best way to pull up hardwood floors that have been glued down?

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Q: What is the best way to remove laminated wood strip flooring that has been glued down to concrete? A: Hire some young, strong, cheap labour? Good question. I would start with a large wrecking bar and see how that works. You may have to rent a tile chipper. Depends the adhesive used. Probably some [...]

How to remove some old tile

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Q: I am trying to figure out how to remove some old tile that has plywood underneath. My house was built in the 1900′s and I guess later the owners wanted to update the kitchen with that awful red, tile looking brick. We discovered in a corner that there is the mortar or whatever is [...]

Removing a poured acrylic floor

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

How do I remove a poured acrylic floor over plywood sub floor in a kitchen?

Removing floor glued to OSB

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

I have a very cheap engineered hardwood floor that was destroyed by high heel shoes. It needs to be replaced. It is glued down to Advantech OSB. I have been told this will be a nightmare to remove. I was then told just to nail down 3/4′ oak over the top of the old floor. The old floor is 3/8′ thick.

Floor blocking dishwasher

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

I need to pull up a couple of rows of laminate hardwood flooring in my kitchen as the ‘do-it-yourself-er’ who owned my home previously put in the flooring without allowing for the dishwasher to be removed. The dishwasher is now broken and it’s stuck. The tongue and groove flooring in 6′ by 2.5ft sections seems to be glued down. How do I go about pulling it up without damaging it so that I can put it back down? Is there anyway I can make the boards removable so that I can get the new dishwasher out if needed?

Little staples sunk into the wood

Sunday, July 1st, 2007

I just bought a house that was built in 1942. I tore up the carpet in it, due to being completely nasty, and found that there was wood flooring underneath. It’s in pretty bad shape. It has paint all over it. I think it would look really nice if refinished. However, when I started to look, there are all kinds of little staples sunk into the wood. Does this mean they’ve been sanded down too much? If not, what are they? The flooring is about 3/4″ thick. what should I do?

How do I replace a single warped slat of hardwood with another?

Wednesday, April 11th, 2007

How do I replace a single warped slat of hardwood with another? Or repair the warp, if that’s possible?

We really want to save as much of the wood as we can

Saturday, April 7th, 2007

We just bought a 1950′s home with all original hardwood floors. They were covered in carpet and still in pristine shape. We’re in the process of remodleing the home, which includes moving several walls and expanding off the back of the house. We really want to save as much of the wood as we can and reuse it in the main part of the house. Prior to construction starting we want to pull up all the floors. Is this possible without damaging them so that we can relay them once the house is complete?

How do I remove engineered wood floors that are glued directly to a slab?

Friday, March 9th, 2007

How do I remove engineered wood floors that are glued directly to a slab?

Removing staples from wood floors

Monday, February 12th, 2007

Is there a tool to remove 1 1/4″ staples from wood floors without breaking the staple?

Removing floor laid with rubberized adhesive

Monday, February 5th, 2007

I had a flood and the engineered wood floor which was laid with rubberized adhesive must come up. It is glued on a concrete slab. What is the best way to remove the floor?

How to save the subflooring when removing hardwood?

Friday, January 26th, 2007

I am removing oak hardwood floors in my ’89 home that are glued down onto particle board subflooring. I will be replacing it with tile. There is about 300 sq. feet of hardwood flooring that needs to come up. I’ve been researching methods online with little success and what I have read makes it sound like a total nightmare. Will I be able to salvage my subflooring by carefully removing it with a prybar and hammer? Besides using my circular saw to cut small sections at a time for removal are there any other secrets to this inevitably painful project?

Ripping out linoleum

Friday, January 26th, 2007

I just took ugly laminate flooring off my kitchen floor. It still has two different linoleum’s that are glued down. I need two take it down to the wood. How do I do this, without destroying the wood? Do I use some kind of heat gun and scrape out with a scraper or am I out going to hurt the floor itself?

Removing the parquet first?

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

So, parquet flooring should come up before hardwood of any type, 3/4″ or engineered, goes down, nailed of course?

Removing tar paper

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

I need to remove the tar paper and tar backing left behind while stripping my pine floors of years of layering from laminates. I believe this material was laid sometime in the 1940’s or 1950’s and it was adhered directly to the pine plank flooring. How do I remove this tar paper like material?

Refinishing used gymnasium flooring

Wednesday, September 27th, 2006

We obtained about 500 sq. ft of maple gymnasium flooring that we want to refinish and install in our cabin. The flooring is probably 50 years old or more and has been heavily waxed, and it looks as though there may be a shellac finish under that. We had to dismantle the flooring but we are at a loss as to the best way of taking the finish down to the bare wood, removing the old gym lines, and then refinishing.

1/4 Inch thick wood floors?

Monday, August 28th, 2006

I have a number of damaged areas in my 80 yr. old floor. I pulled up one board section and it is 1/4 inch thick. Can I get this material any more?

Removing staples

Tuesday, June 27th, 2006

My recently purchased home has oak flooring underneath the carpeting in my living room. I was able to remove the carpeting, padding, and tack board easily enough. They also put down linoleum glued to plywood in the entry way of the living room. This also came up easily enough (with a little extra effort). My problem is this: They used heavy 3/4″ staples to secure the plywood to my oak floors, and every method we’ve tried to remove the staples has been mostly unsuccessful. The staples are in so far that one of my boards nearly came our with part of the staple! For the most part, the staples just snap off leaving me with two prongs sticking out of the floor. Any suggestions on how I can get these out without ruining the floor?

Hardwood floors under tile

Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

We just purchased a house that has ceramic tile flooring in the living room. It is on top of a hardwood floor. I don’t know if there is a layer protecting the wood, but from peeking on one corner it looks like it was laid directly on the wood. Is there any hope of salvaging the wood floors underneath? Can you give us any tips for removing the tile?

Removing tile

Sunday, March 19th, 2006

We have a tile down the front hallway and wood almost everywhere else. Is it possible to lift the tile and replace it with the hardwood flooring we have left over from the doing the rest of the house?