Archive for the 'Ripping Out Old Flooring' Category

Remove parquet flooring

Thursday, October 20th, 2005

I need to remove parquet flooring in order to put 3/4” solid wood down. What is the easiest way to do this?

Oak floor underneath

Saturday, October 1st, 2005

I have recently moved into a house which has 1930’s vinyl flooring throughout the ground floor. I had pulled this up and found underneath some sort of board- hammered down with hundreds of nails. I have managed to pry some of this board up with a crows for and a mallet but it is very hard work. Is there an easier way? Underneath is a lovely old oak floor which just needs sanding and finishing. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Tongue and groove grime

Sunday, September 18th, 2005

We are removing 3/4″ X 2 1/2″ oak flooring from an old farm house. Do you have any advice as “How” to remove the dirt, grime, soot, etc. in the “tongue and groove area”. The dirt is packed in and hard to remove with a stiff brush.

Sloping floor

Wednesday, September 7th, 2005

I have a sloping floor, from both edges to center is 11/2 inches, it seems to be around the chimney, but from the basement the rafters seem tight and not sloping. I was thinking of putting 4 adjustable jacks around the chimney and jacking the floor up slowly so not to crack the walls, or leave the jacks in place to stop the floor from sloping any more and using a filler to level the floor. Can you please tell me what I can do?

Rip up particle board

Friday, August 5th, 2005

I have particle board on my floors and would like to get it up. What do you suggest is the best way to do that?

Tile tar and removing plywood

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

We`ve just recently bought a house dated somewhere around the early 1900`s, After removing the 30 year old carpet and the 40+ year old tiles we discovered the original hardwood floors underneath. The tiles seem to have been laid with some sort of tar or tar paper under them. Is there anyway to remove the tar or what ever it is on the floor without destroying the hardwood and what is the best thing to finish them with?
Also, in the dinning room under the carpet they laid over top of the hardwood floors there is plywood nailed down on top of the hardwood. Question #2 Is there some way of removing the plywood and refinishing the floor without destroying it by removing the plywood,and will the nailholes be evident or is there some way of filling in the nailholes so they wont be seen?

Removing tiles, glue residue

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

I am removing tile that was placed over hardwood in our home. It pries up very easily, however, the tile glue residue is still all over the hardwood floors. The floor seems fine underneath, I just have to get the thin, blotchy layer of glue off. Is there ANY way I can do this without having to sand it off?

Damaged parquet floor

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

I want to replace some damaged parquet floor (four square feet) in our living room using undamaged flooring from a closet. Is this possible and what process would you suggest?

Removing boards damaged by termites

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

I would like to know how to repair a hardwood floor that has been damaged in places by termites. The floor is over 40 years old and was covered by carpet until recently. There are only a few boards that appear to be damaged. Can individual boards be removed and replaced?

Carefully removing boards

Friday, July 29th, 2005

This is similar to a previous question, but I want to see if I understand it correctly. I have hardwood in the dining room and now want to put it into the kitchen. Because the hardwood is to be staggered I will need to remove some boards to do this, am I understanding you correctly that I will need to remove some boards by using a circular saw to cut part of the board out? Then using a chisel to carefully work underneath the remainder of the board so as not to damage the next board?

Removing old hardwood floor

Friday, July 29th, 2005

I am going to remove my old hardwood floor. What tools are required to do this and where do you start?