Spikey nails in floor

Q: We have just bought an old house. When we removed the carpeting we discovered hardwood floors. However, each three foot strip of wood had at least three nails in them with heads, which means that we cannot sink the heads into the floor.

We will have to remove all the nails, renail the floor with the correct hardwood floor nails, fill in the holes and then refinish the floors. my question is: Can we do the above (pleae suggest the right tool to remove the nails) and get the floors to look decent?

A: No doubt, this was someone’s effort to remove squeaks. If they have used spikes, with a large nail head, and they are flush with the floor surface, you will likely cause plenty of damage just trying to dig them out. Depending how thick the floor is, and how many nails there are, you may have to replace the floor.