salvaging hardwood floors ?

Hello,

Is it possible to salvage old strip hardwood flooring to use again for hard wood flooring ?

I am about to start a remodel project and looking for some cost cutting mea sures plus I hate seeing things go into landfill when they can be repurpose d - reused etc.

So I have two and half rooms with about 750 sq ft total of strip oak floori ng (built in early 60's) that will be demolished and probably go into landf ill and be replaced with some other product unless I come up with some swea t/labor and solution to reuse or salvage it.

Is it possible, is it viable, any special considerations for removal , stor age and so on ?

Thanks for any helpful advice you can give. Rob

Reply to
rmoo.me
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Absolutely!!

Without fail the first thing to go, after any usable crown, base and shoe, when a house is being demolished to build a new one is any hardwood floors are taken out, board by board, and recycled by the demolition company.

It is even generally specified in the contract with the demolition company, and part of their profit considered in their bid.

Go for it. It's not rocket surgery.

Reply to
Swingman

Should not be too difficult to salvage at least 80% unless it has been sanded too many times and the top of the "groove" is too thin to withstand removal. - in which case it is pretty much scrap.

Reply to
clare

Probably not but I sure wouldn't want to do it. I'm assuming they have been angle nailed through the tongues with those hold-on-forever serrated cleats. How DOES one get out boards without wrecking them?

Reply to
dadiOH

Do I understand you to be asking if the floors can be salvaged *in place*? Because that's how your question reads to me. If so, the answer is definitely yes. Practically any surface damage can be sanded off, yielding a brand-new surface.

We from one apartment into a larger one in the same building, in perhaps

1986. The building was built in the '30s. A lot of the tenants had wall-to-wall carpet, but I knew there was oak flooring underneath. Nice, too. every room had a "border" of 3 strips of contrasting woods (darker, lighter, darker) all around the perimeter.

The flooring under the carpet in the new apt. was as dessicated as you could imagine; dried out and completely gray, impregnated with the dust of decades being under carpet.

Two guys with a drum sander and a detail sander made short work of that. The job, including a couple coats of poly, was done in maybe 3 days. As the apartment was empty, we left the door open to the hallway while they were working.

A neighbor came by, looking puzzled. He couldn't understand why anyone would install a beautiful, new and obviously expensive solid wood floor in a rental apartment. It told him it was there already; we just had it refinished. It was very reasonable too.

A look of wonder came over his face.

"That floor, that's in MY apartment too?", he asked. Suffice it to say that *three* of my neighbors had their floors done that summer.

Reply to
Greg Guarino

On 08/07/2014 11:47 AM, dadiOH wrote: ...

In the '60s I'd expect the cut nail.

It's not terribly bad; you generally will sacrifice one or two rows by ripping along the side to be able to get access to the tongue-side of the main run and then just pry and pull. Often a head will pull thru, it not another ploy is to get just enough gap and then use the sawzall and cut the nail and clean up later.

It's always handy if the ceiling underneath happens to be open to be able to drive the initial set up from below to get that initial purchase...

Reply to
dpb

Least expensive maybe is to simply have a wood flooring refinishing company come in and refinish the existing floors.

Reply to
Leon

hardwood flooring ?

measures plus I hate seeing things go into landfill when they can be repur posed - reused etc.

ooring (built in early 60's) that will be demolished and probably go into l andfill and be replaced with some other product unless I come up with some sweat/labor and solution to reuse or salvage it.

storage and so on ?

[trim]

I mean to say the remodel requires total demolition of the rooms to the di rt.

So, the floors will be destroyed and probably thrown into the dumpster/dump truck unless I salvage them before demo starts.

The new rooms will need flooring. It would be nice to re-use existing oak f looring wood if possible and viable. Additionally I like idea of reusing th ings when possible. Rob

Thanks for any useful advice.

Reply to
rmoo.me

hardwood flooring ?

g measures plus I hate seeing things go into landfill when they can be repu rposed - reused etc.

looring (built in early 60's) that will be demolished and probably go into landfill and be replaced with some other product unless I come up with some sweat/labor and solution to reuse or salvage it.

storage and so on ?

The floors do not appear to have been refinished maybe once since the origi nal installation. I removed a stair cap once and the edge of those boards l ooked very thick. I guess I will not know for certain toil I pull somethin g up.

Do the old flooring boards need to be edge plained or process for good fit during installation ?

Thanks for help. Rob

Reply to
rmoo.me

I've been in the tight crawl space and I believe you are correct with the Cut Nail so I guess that would help for easier removal.

Since I've never seen this done I would like to go about the most reliable way. Tricks from the masters :)

Thanks, Rob

Reply to
rmoo.me

On 08/07/2014 2:49 PM, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: ...

I presume they're oak? In a "former life" we recovered quite a lot of wide clear pine from ante-bellum mansions in Lynchburg for use during refurb of others where the one didn't want to retain the originality and the latter did. In it, not be so terribly hard, it was often possible to pull the head thru with a combination of pulling up and then driving the fastener. They again were all cut nails in those days, of course.

With the oak that may or may not prove effective; some will depend on what the joist material is as to how hard it is, too...

You can always decide it's not feasible; if you don't give it a try the result is a foregone conclusion and you'll always wonder what if...I'm one that I'd surely try, I've been known to save used nails when demo'ing stuff here on the farm if they're over 8d :) and the barn and machine shed has piles of old construction material going back nearly

100 yr--I can recognize the place from which some of it came--I used some of the siding from the old chicken house when re-furbing the original shop building Dad had basically abandoned after we first came back. I don't recall for sure, but my best recollection would be the chicken house came down in the very early '60s and we came back after Dad passed away in 2000...so it waited a while to find a use but it was still there... :)
Reply to
dpb

Nobody with half a brain will let you close to a planer with used flooring!!!!! Those staple/nails/cleats are hell on planer blades - and it only takes ONE little bit of one - not even a full nail.

Reply to
clare

On 08/07/2014 2:18 PM, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: ...

Shouldn't -- there should be minimal damage at all on the groove edge as all your reclamation work will come from the tongue side other than maybe just a little help to separate once you've gotten the fasteners clear.

A quick pass w/ a belt sander to just wipe of the dust/grime would probably be all I'd consider...

But, clare, "yes, I've run a _lot_ of reclaimed lumber thru both planer and jointer" -- and once or twice I've knicked a blade. But, the cost of a resharpening or even a set of blades or knives pales in contrast to the cost of several hundred or thousand feet of hardwood new...not to mention the difference in what 100- or 200-yo stuff is like compared to present harvest, even in hardwoods as common as oak.

Reply to
dpb

Hardwood lumber, yes. but hardwood flooring, you just install it "as is" and then run a floor sander over it and refinish it. And even when planing old lumber, you go over it all 3 or 4 times with a metal detector, and take the first cut with a "rough" blade that doesn't care if it picks up a bit of sand or other crap.. Best way to "repurpose" old wood is with a drum sander.

Reply to
clare

wrote

Use a thin cut-off wheel in an angle grinder or die grinder to cut off the nails where they come out the bottom, and cut off any large splinters down there, too.

Reply to
Morgans

"dadiOH" wrote

Leave them in! Cut off the nail where it comes out the bottom, and any splintering, too. A thin blade in an angle grinder or die grinder will trim them up faster than you can pull the nails, and with a lot less damage, too.

Reply to
Morgans

I've done both...altho late commercial flooring is generally not worth the planing. Most of the salvaged heart pine in Lynchburg was 5- or 6/4 initially but being pine had quite a lot of wear and all given the age so sanding in place wasn't really the easy way to get a new surface. If on has a drum sander it can do wonders indeed; if not the planer works, too... :)

Reply to
dpb

Pegged heart pine is a totally different situation than nailed or stapled oak. And even nailed pine used fewer, larger nails that are easier to find and remove. But a broken off cut nail can chew up a planing blade pretty quick too.

Reply to
clare

[trim]

Thanks to all for the info and affirmations.

I plan to reclaim and hit it with some fine grit on belt sander to get dust, trash, dirt and knock poly-coat lip off as suggested.

I keep the nail problem solutions in mind, I don't fancy knocking all the nails out so the angle grinder sounds like a winner there but I will not know till I start.

Thanks again for all the help, Rob

Reply to
rmoo.me

On Saturday, August 9, 2014 4:07:53 PM UTC-5, rmo

obably be all I'd consider... > > -- [trim] Thanks to all for the info and affirmations. I plan to reclaim and hit it with some fine grit on belt sand er to get dust, trash, dirt and knock poly-coat lip off as suggested. I kee p the nail problem solutions in mind, I don't fancy knocking all the nails out so the angle grinder sounds like a winner there but I will not know til l I start. Thanks again for all the help, Rob

Getting in the mix late....

Oak is pretty hard and my experience is it may pop up pretty clean, dependi ng on what it's nailed to. If there would happen to be some abnormally la rge nails in it, maybe a Cresent nail puller -

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- would help that si tuation. I've used this tool so many times, salvaging, it's like my third arm.

Another option for finishing the boards: Flip the boards and use the under side. It may be cleaner, hence easier to prep and refinish.

Sonny

Reply to
Sonny

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