How to remove nails in timber decking?

[Apples]

How to remove nails in timber decking?

When the house was built the builders used these cup head/button head type nails to hold the timber decking down. Why? I got no idea.

It is now a PITA if one wanted to sand the decking and repaint. Huh, guess what. I want to sand the decking.

What is the best way to remove these nails, and the easiest way?

Peter

[joe greiner]

Nail puller. Pincers with a slide hammer to engage under the head. Google [crescent 56] for an example. If necessary, print a pic and present to a tool merchant.

Cheers,
Joe

[Ashore]

Hay pal I checked out you site that says it gives free advive on tig welding and where is the advice on tig welding , it is easy to come on these sites and ask questions with your advertisement for free at the bottom of the page, but when you look the promo for tig welding advice doesnnt exist , why is this
Are you using this forum as an easy way to advertise or are you serious on how to remove nails :((

[Apples]

Sorry dude I have not got any TIG info up yet. I will remove that from my signature bar.

Yeah the nails. Using a hammer is the obvious way, but the problem I have is how do I lift the head of the nail up 1/4 of an inch so that I can get underneath to leaver it out?

I had tried pincers before but the teeth? of the pincers were ground at an angle and when the pincers sat on the nail and decking the actual pinch point was not as low of it could have been.

Maybe there are other pincers that are better.

Peteer

[billym]

might be a bit rough on the paper but you could consider sanding the whole lot which wouold remove the heads.You still have to nail the deck down anyway.Not sure how the paper will stand up to the heads.billym:rolleyes:

[Honorary Bloke]

Sorry dude I have not got any TIG info up yet. I will remove that from my signature bar.

Yeah the nails. Using a hammer is the obvious way, but the problem I have is how do I lift the head of the nail up 1/4 of an inch so that I can get underneath to leaver it out?

I had tried pincers before but the teeth? of the pincers were ground at an angle and when the pincers sat on the nail and decking the actual pinch point was not as low of it could have been.

Maybe there are other pincers that are better.

Peteer

I guess you didn't understand Joe's answer. Not a hammer and not small pincers, one of these:

http://www.coastaltool.com/hand_tools/crescent/nail_puller.html

:)

[billym]

G"day Bob yes the nail puller is great I had one years ago. Got to hold it right or you get a big blood blister. The problems I see using this on the deck is you drive two notches into each side of the nail head to get under the nail. Need a lot of sanding to remove the notches.billym:)

[Apples]

Oooo, a new tool......

Yeah I understand now. That might be the go.

As to sanding the head of the nails down, I had thought about that. But then what do I do with the rest of the nail? can't really punch it all through. I'd want to use the same hole and re do with screws.

Some of the nails have popped up a little bit, which will make them easier to remove. This is also why I think screws would be better than nails.

Peter

[silentC]

You're never going to be able to remove those nails without marring the deck. They are a twist shank nail and you'll probably end up popping the heads off quite a few as well, especially if your joists are hardwood.

I think you are creating a major pain in the backside for yourself. I know some people like to get their decks sanded but I could never see the point. If you're intent on doing it, my suggestion would be to punch them all down so the heads are below the surface and forget about the screws.

The reason they used those nails is because titadeks are an industry standard for decking. The heads are proud to stop water and other muck from sitting in the hole on top of the nail.

[snapman007]

Last week i had to remove a 600mm width of decking boards that were fixed with the same nails to put blocking in between the joists for a glass pool fence. I used a wrecking bar to lift the boards, then numbered each board and drew a layout plan of where they had to be replaced.
You can then knock the nails out with a hammer.
This will be time consuming but probably your only real option.
Again, I'd be very careful if they're nailed into hardwood joists.
Good luck

[Bob38S]

It is my understanding that this type of nail is used so as to minimise the amount of water penetration around the nail hole, especially a punched nail hole, leading to rot and rust.

However, from a different perspective if this is what you want to do.

If you can get under the deck OK -

You could hammer the boards up using a block and heavy hammer from underneath - hit the board from above to expose the nail - then remove either the nail or whole board. Bear in mind that if the bearers are hardwood then there is a possibility of pulling the nail through the board or snapping it off.

Unless it was absolutely necessary why sand? Clean thoroughly with a deck cleaner then stain/paint etc. Also bear in mind that if you paint to keep the colour "lightish" - dark coloured decks in the past tended not to be able to stand up to the summer extremes of temperature. Check with anyone who had an old mission brown deck in the 70's - they burnt your feet and the timber appeared to rot faster - said to be due to the high heat absorbtion of the dark paint causing the timber to try and expand beyond its limits leading to cracking and high water penetration.

Just some thoughts,
Bob

[Apples]

okay,

Option 1. Knock down nail heads.
Probably the easiest to do which will allow me to run over with a sander.

Option 2. Go underneath and will have to use a jack and jack up each bit of timber. This would be time consuming and very slow.

Option 3. Don't sand at all. Question, how good are the deck cleaners? I have used the Cabots brand deck cleaner before. The results were okay I guess, nothing like what sanding would compare to though.
I did just have a look at the bottle and it has less that 10% oxalic acid. Is there a better deck cleaning chemical that will clean up my boards better?

Peter

[snapman007]

Use the wrecking bar to lever the boards up. You work on top of the deck and you have full control. Start at an end and just work your way along each plank. They come up quite easily, you can see what's going on when your working on top of the deck. I used this method last week and it worked a treat and it and it was on a mega $$$ home on Sovereign Island so no shonky job. Just lever up smoothly, knock out the nails, then screw back down. I guarantee if you knock them up from underneath you will crack/split/damage at least 10% of the boards especially at the ends.
Cheers.

[silentC]

I don't know, I would think long and hard about what you're really trying to achieve before pulling all the boards up (how big an area are we talking about, by the way?). I can understand pulling up 8 boards to install a pool fence, but pulling up a whole deck just to replace the nails with screws sounds like a screwy idea to me. A builder mate of mine said to me once "never go backwards" and I reckon that's good advice. I would chalk it up to experience, get the next deck you have built screwed, and just get on with whatever it is you plan to do on the deck :)

[Apples]

nah not interested in ripping up each board. Yes a wrecking bar and levering them up would be the way. But that too much work.

I think I might try knocking them down flush, then light sand and spa-n-deck it.

Will see how that goes, will need a bigger hammer probably a small slege hammer as it takes a bit to knock the heads of the nails down.

If I had plenty of time energy an a good back I would consider ripping it all up.

See how things go.

Peter

[joe greiner]

I guess you didn't understand Joe's answer. Not a hammer and not small pincers, one of these:

http://www.coastaltool.com/hand_tools/crescent/nail_puller.html

:)
I guess Joe didn't fully understand Peter's question. And if he'd had just a wee bit more patience, he'd have found the link itself.:-

These tools are the bee's knee's for nail extraction. In the late 19th century, there were tonnes of patents issued for variations. Now only a few versions available. I have two of them; one the Crescent. They're more useful for clean demolition and reuse of the timber, than for Peter's objective. Also to elicit questions from observers of the tool kit (Wot the L is that?) They leave only two slight dimples on each side of the nail hole; work somewhat better prying against long grain than transverse.

Cheers,
Joe

[Taffy]

Apples
I have mentioned this before on another subject, I have had occasion to remove quite a few nails and have found that you need purchase and something that is flat enough to grab the head.
I have used a cheap pair of hoof trimmers that can be bought at any half decent produce store, they are a large set of pincers that are flat when closed, they are also rounded at the head and are big enough to give you leverage. (place a thin piece of ply or similar on your deck).
Best of luck
Taffy