Tearing Up Hardwood Floors

Sweep the sawdust wood chips and other debris into small piles then use a shop vac to suction them up.

Tearing up hardwood floors.

By cutting the boards into small sections removal will go faster and smoother. This is helpful because hardwood planks are all different lengths and make it really tough to remove quickly. We used several techniques that we found very uncomfortable. Pry up the first few boards to give yourself room to work.

Removing hardwood floors in one of the houses we renovated. Cut the hardwood flooring perpendicular to the direction the flooring is lying. 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. Make sure to set your saw blade to the thickness of your hardwood flooring so as to not damage the sub flooring.

So cutting them into smaller pieces of wood makes it easier to pry up. You can cut each section into approximately one to two feet wide portions. Take down the tarps roll them up carefully and move them outside to be cleaned or thrown away.