Anyone have a favorite, good nail puller for this situation?
Our house (late 1970's) has 1/2 inch ply over the floor joists then they covered that with 3/4ish particle board. Not OSB, particle board fastened with 2" ring shank nails. The squeaks are driving me crazy and we are doing a major remodel on the kitchen, dining and living room with everything getting torn out. So now is the time to remove the particle board and then glue and screw some 3/4 tongue and groove down to stop the squeaks. And add some screws for the 1/2" ply while I have access to it.
Tearing out the particle board is a pain. Those ring shake nails don't like to give up. I can shove a big wrecking bar between the particle board and half inch ply between the joists but the wedging action almost punches through the 1/2 ply. If I do get under the particle board on top of a joist and get some good leverage the particle board just breaks off leaving the ring shank nail with a nice little mound around it.
Ive used a small cats paw with some success but it is slow going. Looks like there is some innovative nail pulling devices but don't want to spring for one if they don't live up to the hype. I'm also open to any other creative ideas on removing this crap.