Tearing Up Hardwood Floors

Removing hardwood floors in one of the houses we renovated.

Tearing up hardwood floors.

Pry up the first few boards to give yourself room to work. If necessary go over the area again with a vacuum or mop to clear away any especially fine dust remaining. This is helpful because hardwood planks are all different lengths and make it really tough to remove quickly. Alternatively use a circular saw with a carbide tooth blade to make a plunge cut along the length of the sacrificial board and use a pry.

So cutting them into smaller pieces of wood makes it easier to pry up. Make sure to set your saw blade to the thickness of your hardwood flooring so as to not damage the sub flooring. Cut the hardwood flooring perpendicular to the direction the flooring is lying. By cutting the boards into small sections removal will go faster and smoother.

Okay so the fastest way to remove old hardwood floors is to cut the boards into smaller sections. Then we came up with this one which. You can cut each section into approximately one to two feet wide portions.