Beach House Design

Wooden Floor Removal & Replacing With Vinyl Flooring

Wooden Floor Removal

floor sawing company for floor removalWhen it comes to updating the floors in your home, the process can range from simple (taking up carpets) to almost impossible (updating concrete). Certain types of flooring might seem hard to remove, but with the right tools and know-how can become pretty straight forward, and that’s where a guide to removing hardwood floors may come in handy. Let’s take a look at the ins and outs of wooden floor removal.

Getting Started 

Before you begin removing your hardwood floor, you first want to consider two things-

Are any of the existing floor boards salvageable?

The fastest way to remove a hardwood floor is to cut the existing floorboards into smaller pieces, so that you can clear them away as you work. This means that deciding if any (or all!) of your floor boards may be salvageable is always a good idea before you begin cutting!

Rotten and damaged wood isn’t likely to be of any value and can be disposed, but pieces that are in good condition can be reused, sold, or donated- so make sure to determine which pieces you wish to keep intact and put them in a separate pile when you remove them, so that they don’t get thrown away.

What tools do I need?

It is always sensible to prepare all of the tools that you need before starting a project, so that you have everything to hand as you work. To remove a hardwood floor you will need:

  • Gloves
  • Safety Goggles
  • Knee Pads
  • Dust Mask
  • Circular Saw
  • Pry Bar
  • Mallet
  • Nail Claw
  • Curved Vice Grips
  • Large Magnet
  • Vacuum Cleaner

 

Removing your Wooden Floor

Using a circular saw, cut lines into each piece of hardwood- perpendicular to the direction in which the wood is laid.  Set your blade to match the thickness of your flooring to ensure that you don’t cut through the sub-flooring. Work to cut each section around 1-2 feet wide, ready to be pried up later.

To pry up the hardwood pieces, you should use a pry bar and a mallet to lift and loosen each piece, so that it can be removed more easily. Many hardwood floors are constructed using staples and nails, so be sure to lift and dispose of these safely. The best way to remove nails and staples is to use a nail claw for stubborn pieces, curved vice grips for any broken staples and nails that just won’t budge.

The job is particularly messy and it can be dangerous to clear away old pieces of metal, so simply sweep a large magnet through all of the debris to ensure that it is all removed safely. From here you can vacuum the area to remove small pieces of wood and sawdust to clean the area fully.

It will take time to get the area you are working on back to normal, so be prepared to clean, clean and clean some more! If you want to outsource this job to the professionals contact Centroruso the Vinyl Flooring Specialists.