Lifting up Laminate flooring

When you remove the skirting ;-) you can find the screws with a cable/metal detector. It's how I found the hole for the rotary clothes line, in the grass.

One technique I remember reading to remove a single board is to drill 4 holes in it, one by each corner, then cut between the holes to form a rectangle that can be easily removed (removes ~70-90% of the material), then by prying (maybe weakening with a couple of small drill holes) bend and snap the remaining material along the long edges into the hole left by the process above.

That's to take the board out.

To replace with the new board, carefully cut the lower lip of the "grooved" part of the replacement board to allow it to drop into place easily. I'm guessing glue will be your friend at this stage.

Depending on the screws used you could use a magnet to find them. I done something similar but the magnet found them fine. Have a look at the skirting and guess where you would insert screws if you were just fitting the boards now. Chances are it will be there or there abouts.

With a small circular saw set to board depth cut away a board leaving a small margin at each of the joins. If it is click together stuff then the remaining bits can be pulled free. If glued, then use a chisel at an angle to knock the remaining wood away from the glueline. You will need to rip the lower part of the groove away from the replacement boards to be able to get them back in the hole. Glue in place (even if it is a click together floor system)

I thought it was just me ;-)

Chris

I suspect that the replacement will be slightly higher due to it not having the bottom of the groove to apply a tension to it + the thickness of the glue and the upward push of the underlay stuff.