Salvaging Hardwood Floors

[Joe A Faulkner]

For my shop remodel, I hope to install a hardwood floor. I know a few of you have used the utility grade hickory from LL and based on the pictures I've seen, I have developed a preference for this. I need about 440 sq ft (factoring in for 10% waste).

Yesterday on CL, I saw an ad for salvaging hardwood floors out of an old farm house. I can get 2 1/4" Red Oak for 75 cents a ft. if I remove the boards.

Any one have any experience salvaging oak floors? How difficult is it? Is this a reasonable price, or for the 25 cents difference, should I stick with the utility grade stuff?

[Callan Campbell]

Joe, having pulled up every single board of maple in our kitchen back in '96 when we were redoing it, I can speak to removing and saving it[I laid all the boards back down over a new subfloor] Your time is your own, whatever it's worth. To get the boards up and not damage them takes some careful work if they're still nailed tight against the subfloor or sleeper 2x2s above the subfloor. I'd find out how much floor thickness is there, how many times did the flooring get sanded, so you know if you've got full, nominal strips to work with. If it looks iffy, then the Hickory might be the way to go if you're planning on putting some weight on whatever wood you go with.
Get great knee pads, some cats paw pry bars to carefully lever the boards away and remove all the nails from the boards so you don't damage them or yourself if a stray one hooks into something it wasn't supposed to.
Take your time, don't rush it, develop a routine. I also really like my nail removal pliers that I now own, and didn't when I really could have used them in 1996. They cam the nail out, using the large, round head of the pliers to rotate or cam away. Hmm, the new, "un-nailed" wood is starting to sound really good now......

[Jeff Mackay]

I've removed old maple flooring. The old nails have a lot of holding power. I'm sure I ruined almost as much as I salvaged. Will the calculation be before or after you take it out? Either way, if it was me, I'd spend the extra $.25 a foot.

Jeff

[David Helm]

While I really like the idea of recycling and repurposing, the amount of work you are in for is huge. Not only pulling up the flooring but also cleaning it up so it can be used. .75 a foot sounds very high for this process. If you can get the hickory for 1.00 a foot you will be money (time) ahead.

[Charles Wiggins]

Joe,

I had a limited experience with trying to reclaim oak flooring when we did the demolition on my parents old house. If you do, I highly recommend getting a couple of Super Wonder Bars. The toughest part is tearing out one of the floorboards to get underneath. If you tear out the baseboard first you might be able to determine which way it was laid. In other words which side the tongues are on, if it's tongue and groove. If I remember correctly, you want to work the groove side because that's where the nails are and you're basically taking it back up in reverse order from how it was laid. Work slowly, and pry up a little at each nail along the length until you can free the board from the mating grooves, as opposed to trying to work one end out completely. If you go at it like gangbusters you'll got a lot more firewood than flooring.

And I wouldn't pay $.75 per linear foot if I was the one doing the removal. That's $3.99 a square foot. I can get new 5" red oak for that.

[Harlan Theaker]

Joe,



And I wouldn't pay $.75 per linear foot if I was the one doing the removal. That's $3.99 a square foot. I can get new 5" red oak for that.

Pretty sure he's meaning 0.75/sq ft, which in my opinion is still high.

I've been offered hardwood on a few occasions, the only catch being I have to remove it... I'd say if you figure your time to be worth $10-$15/hr, then go for it, otherwise buy the hickory.

Why not tell them you'll remove it for free and take the wood. I really doubt they'll find someone willing to buy and remove.

[David Thompson 27577]

What Jeff said about old nails and holding power is probably an understatement. And you said this is an "old farm house" -- which means to me that the flooring was probably nailed down with cut nails.

And any floor that went down with cut nails, is going to come back up in tiny little pieces. I've tried.

[Scott T Smith]

I once salvaged a couple of thousand square feet of floor from a high school gym. As others have indicated, it is a LOT of work, and IMO not worth a .25 sq ft savings.

If you only had to pay .25 a square foot for the flooring, then I would consider it.

Keep in mind that not only will you have to go through the effort to remove it, you will then need to clean it, remove any metal, and then sand/plane it down before re-installing. Planing is the easiest, but the old finish will dull the knives quickly. Also, if you miss any metal you'll find it with your planer blades!

If you can buy new for a buck a square foot, you're money (and time) ahead.

[Joe A Faulkner]

The quoted price is per square foot. Sounds as if the jury is in favor of the utility hickory. From what I've heard about the utility stuff, I probably need to plan for an extra 10% of waste. I recall reading here that in some cases, boards are missing end grooves or end tounges; in other cases the boards are of some other species of wood; still it seems that those who have gone this route have been happy.

[Harlan Theaker]

I probably need to plan for an extra 10% of waste.

This is normal for any hardwood job... If planned properly, could can easily work around the boards with missing tongues, etc...

[Joe A Faulkner]

Harlan, I believe 10% waste is normal for any hardwood job, but from what I've heard, I need to plan for an extra 10% - 20% waste using this utility grade stuff. With the low price comes some variation in quality, uniformity, even consistency in material (mostly hickory, some other odd stuff thrown in).

[Michael Koch]

I put a wood floor down in my shop. It is a young mans job. I looked at the hickory from LL and decided not to go with it based on the feedback from others that have used it. People that I know that used LL had to return the stock because of terrrible milling problems. I was able to find a flooring contractor that needed to get rid of remenants at a very good price. paying anything over 1.00 per sq ft is to much for a shop. MK

[Joe A Faulkner]

I put a wood floor down in my shop. It is a young mans job. .... MK

So is roofing, but for some reason, okay cost savings, I'm reroofing the shop. Spent all morning tearing off two layers. The top layer of 3 tabs came off very nicely, the first layer, T-tabs, were a killer.

[John Mark Lane]

Just noticed this and I guess I'll be piling on. But I've done a fair amount of this, removing and salvaging old oak flooring. In my last house, which I bought cheap (for NY), I ripped out most of the flooring on the second floor to repair the flooring on the first floor, and to expand the first floor. So I also ripped out much of the oak on the first floor, which had been badly repaired and was a mess.

There are a couple of things I plan to never do again. One is taking the Bar exam. Another is ripping up and trying to salvage old oak flooring. If they paid me $1 a foot to take it, I wouldn't do it. If they paid me $20 a foot, I might consider it. Maybe.

I saved a bunch of the old cut nails that I pulled out of that floor. I keep them in a jar, which I regard as kind of an urn, a symbol of the pain I endured for that stupid project. I should have just overlaid the entire mess with that 1/4 inch flooring veneer they sell at the Borg. I sold the damn house anyway (at a nice profit, thank you), and I'm sure the new owners haven't a clue.

Longleaf yellow pine makes nice flooring. IMO.