methods for removing hardwood flooring?

[david]

hi,

I laid my border around the (yet to be installed)cooktop island in a herringbone pattern, working inward...there are 10 rows of 3 1/4" red oak, with cherry on the outside rows. I did a beautiful job, except I screwed up the layout, and now have to tear it all up and re-do it (penance for my stupidity)...I know it would bother me forever if I don't fix it.

there is space in the middle from which to start working...Also, I had cut slots in the ends of all the runs to lock them into the tongues of the preceeding row...

The method I will try is to pry the boards up gently with a gorilla bar, and sawzall the nails from underneath, then work them out of the tongues of the row behind. I tried using a palm nailer with a punch to set the nails, but it bounced around too much. Is it rediculous to think I can save the flooring and re-use it? Is there a better method of uninstalling hardwood?

all advice considered and appreciated...

david

[default]

I don't suppose you can just re-design the island to match the gap?

[david]

I thought about cheating and tweaking here and there with the island and its countertop to try to live with it, but the cooktop needs to be centered under the already installed hood vent...the island is centered on the sink counter, centered on the window, centered on the whole room (open floor plan)..the feng shui of the house would be trashed...I was off by almost 5" on the bad side (got distracted in the layout process, didn't double check...flat out blew it...)

I will try driving wedges under the boards to pry them up; that's how I removed the carpet underlayment...

david

[e-mail] wrote:

[default]

Well.. another option is to just fill in the rest of the herringbone, and build the island on TOP of the finished floor. The extra 3/4" isn't likely to kill anyone.

[david]

I have started the removal, and it is going smoothly, with no damage to about 90% of the boards. I cut about 25 wedges out of yellow pine 2by, and have been driving them under the tongue edge of the runs, and the 90 degree corners simultaneously. when the boards are loosened I can place a slim prybar in the crack on the groove side and tap the board out of the tongue behind it. I then tap the nails thru from the back, and pull them with nippers using the tongue for leverage, so the edge stays clean. As I said, it is working well, and I saved almost all the wood so far.

If I had made a similar mistake in a client's houses I would have had to redo it, so I might as well do the same for my own house...if I can figure out how to post pictures, I'll do that...

thanks for the suggesti>>I thought about cheating and tweaking here and there with the island and

[david]

The herringbone pattern is just an accent around the island....actually, the outside run of the hb is brazillian cherry, followed by a run of red oak, another run of cherry, then 7 more runs of oak back to the island. with the island centered in the room, and the border around it not symmetrical, it would look too bad to countenance...had to be done...