Deassembling ans re-assembling hardwood floor

I am doing a major remodel of my house. I want to disassemble existing hardwood floor and re-install it after remodeling. The hardwood is solid oak sanded and finished after installation. I will sand and refinish it after re-installation. How practical and economical is this?

Reply to
ls02
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Not at all. Why do you want to take it out?

If it is to protect it, you'd be better off covering it with OSB until the job's done. [though just the slightest amount of caution would make even that unnecessary- especially since you plan on sanding it when you're done.

Even if there are sections that need to be replaced, I'd just fix them when the job is done-- you'll tear hell out of that flooring getting it up.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

It's labor intensive. You won't find much interest among pros to do this but if the labor is yours, it's "free" right? Carefully pry each board up and away from the adjacent one. Remove the nails.

Reply to
jamesgangnc

If it's tongue and groove flooring, which it probably is, and installed properly (angle nailed to each joist), taking it up without major damage to it is hard to do. I would look really hard for some other way, before trying that. --H

Reply to
Heathcliff

the amount of damage done to remove the old floor makes it a loser project. bettewr to start new, ands end up with a good job.

rather than a killer amount of work, ands at best so so results

I had to pull up just a little, wouldnt ever consider doing a large area

Reply to
hallerb

I've seen some pretty impressive reclaimed industrial wood floors. It's expensive and is really done for the looks rather than the wood.

Reply to
krw

Aren't industrial floors usually face-nailed? Those are a whole lot easier to pull up and recycle versus tongue-nailed. (Like the difference between damn near impossible, and merely a horrendous PITA.) Either way, you can count on destroying a good fraction of the boards. Usual practice is to leave old floor in place, and creatively weave in new boards or an artistic inlay, in the areas where floor had to be disturbed. If a room is simply getting bigger, you add a wood stripe at the transition, and go ahead and lay new floor. It is what it is, and people can always tell when walls have moved.

Reply to
aemeijers

You seldom find it nailed to floor joists. It's generally nailed to a subfloor. It's not that hard to get up if you use several flat pry bars and start at the tongue side. It is a whole lot of labor though. If it was really laid directly on joists and nailed to them that would be harder.

Reply to
jamesgangnc

ote:

old wood, like 50 year old is super dry and splits easily.

unless the existing wood is really special in some way your far better off just replacing it.

anyone who doewsnt believe this just try pulling up a small area, to get the experience

Reply to
hallerb

I don;t know that I would agree that it is "super dry" as it's not drier than it's surroundings. It does seem to harden with age but oak's damn hard anyway. Won't argue about the labor. No harm in the op trying it before buying replacement. Without seeing the specific installation we don't know what it's nailed to or how many nails are in it. I too have pulled up small areas for repairs and it was a chore.

Reply to
jamesgangnc

It's not that hard to get up if you use several flat pry bars and start at the tongue side.

Yes, it *is* hard to get it out. It's also damn near impossible to do so in a manner that will make it possible to put it back down.

Or, to look at it another way, there's no way, after pulling it up, that the OP won't have to buy more wood (to replace what split, splintered or disintegrated during removal) because it's not going to do down like it came up, jigsaw puzzle fashion.

You'd have to have it resanded anyway, after reinstalling it, so why not just leave it down during the remodel? It wouldn't take much effort to protect it against the major stuff, and the minor stuff would come out with the sanding job you'd have to do anyway.

Leave it in place.

Reply to
Joe

Good point. Guess I assumed he had structural floor changes involved. But even if he is building walls there's no reason he can't frame right on top of the hardwood. Or saw out a slot for the wall.

Reply to
jamesgangnc

Good point. Guess I assumed he had structural floor changes involved. But even if he is building walls there's no reason he can't frame right on top of the hardwood. Or saw out a slot for the wall.

I didn't think about adding a wall, but you're right. If that's the plan, just saw a slot.

Reply to
Joe

You're probably right. I once knew where they were ripping up an old bowling alley. I would have loved to get my hands on some of the Maple boards, but the guy doing the work told me to forget it. They always destroyed it getting it up.

Reply to
keith

Ditto on the OSB...Cover the floor with flooring paper , lay the OSB on top cutting out jogs , ect to get it as close to the walls as possible...Put duct tape on all the joints...Lay down a tarp on top of that if you are doing wet work in certain areas , like cutting tile with a wet saw , plaster work or masonery...Done it MANY times with excellent results...HTH...

Reply to
benick

Yes. Although it seems to me that at least in installations new enough to have plywood subflooring, generally they try to hit the joists through the subfloor. I know I did. Regardless, the amount of labor and the failure rate make this a tough job.

Reply to
Heathcliff

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