Archive for the 'Removing Boards' Category

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?

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?

Carefully removing boards

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006

My hardwood floors were installed under the kitchen cabinets and have not held up well. I would like to replace them with wider planks, but how do you remove the old flooring without tearing out the kitchen cabinets?

Glued laminate removal

Wednesday, November 16th, 2005

We have a 20 X 20 section of 1/4 inch wood laminate flooring. We are trying to remove the entire area to put down new floors in our home. We are having a difficult time removing the flooring as it is a click in place and it has been glued to a particle underlayment. Is there something that can be used to heat the glue to make the removal easier?

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?

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?

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?