Thread: De-nailing floor boards

Hi Joe. I have pulled a lot afo nails from flooring, I haven't come across a quicker way than a hammer though. A couple of tips, use some waist high tressles, hit all the nails through slide the board to keep the point of impact near one of the tressles, then turn over and remove all nails. Jarrah is pretty hard and you may find a small pinch bar handy if they are difficult, but probably better to use a block of wood to lift the hammer close to the nail head. Make sure the head of the hammer is clean by rubbing on a concrete floor or similar. Put some music on and go for it. It won't take that long. See ya. Rod

PS Don't hit your fingers with the hammer, cause it hurts. Don't say you weren't warned!

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Hi Joe,

I recently laid 100M2 off reclaimed Jarrah and denailed about 125M2. The best way I found was to cut the nails on the back side with an angle grinder and then place the face side of the board on a piece of scrap softwood and hammer it through the face with punch. I assure you it will not damage the board and the stub of nail will pull out with claw hammer.

Another tip, save yourself time and pain, get a 'Floorboard punch' rather than a standard nail punch, they atr heavy and strong and worth every cent of the $10 it will cost you.

Chippy

A big pair of pincers would be hand too.
cheers

I was told it is best to punch them through the board rather than extract them to prevent split out as the head comes back out. I suppose it could depend on the type of timber.

Originally Posted by Chippy

Hi Joe,

I recently laid 100M2 off reclaimed Jarrah and denailed about 125M2. The best way I found was to cut the nails on the back side with an angle grinder and then place the face side of the board on a piece of scrap softwood and hammer it through the face with punch. I assure you it will not damage the board and the stub of nail will pull out with claw hammer.

Another tip, save yourself time and pain, get a 'Floorboard punch' rather than a standard nail punch, they atr heavy and strong and worth every cent of the $10 it will cost you.

Chippy

Ditto on the grinder part, but I'm not removing the old nails. I'll just punch them down after the boards have been re-layed.

Originally Posted by David L

I was told it is best to punch them through the board rather than extract them to prevent split out as the head comes back out. I suppose it could depend on the type of timber.

If you hold the board down against a soft piece of timber it prevents this. If you bend the nail from the back you can often just hook the claw hammer on it and pull it through from underneath, or use a pair of pincers from underneath. Easiest is to just grind them off and leave them in there.

Can you get to the nails sharp end?
With some length on it?

I went to the local mkt and grabbed 3 pairs of cheapy Pop Riveters. Turn your brd face side down. Slide your riveter onto the nail and start squeezing. I suffered no damage to either side that can't be easily sanded out.
My boards have had their nail heads hidden with putty and they stayed that way after I pulled them out from the same direction from which they were hammered in.
Now and then you'll get a nail that wants to stay in the riveter. Pull it apart and get it out. Then keep going. Then when one ... REALLY... wont come out grab another pair.
Worked for me.
I'm so sick of pulling out nails from all my recycled timbers.
Gawwddd... my poor planning blades. Thats what metal detectors are for...ha he. Risky stuff.

Go well......

I normally pull them through from the underside with pinchers. They say that knocking them thru causes blow outs in the face, which is true. Others may disagree. Basically, whatever works for you.

Cheers
TM

I'm with the knock it through group. Generally a decent claw hammer works for me, just rip it onto the pointy end and tug through. Never felt there was much science required for this exercise.

Joe, if you have heaps to remove then help is at hand Not sure where in Perth to go get one, but their is a air punch that looks like a nail gun but has a tube that slides over the sharp end of the nail and when you shoot the internal hammer hits the nail back out. I have used one and its fantastic

I have found carpenters pincers/pliers are superior & will pull most nails easily if the nail head sticks up enough for a bite.

I tried a lot of different things.
Pulling through from underneath was the best method, easier and less damaging than hammering down. Even so, I still had large chunks of wood coming out of the bottom.
What I did then was place a steel plate with a hole (to allow nails to be pulled through) in between the timber and pliers/pincers.
Similar to attached.

My preference is to pull the nails straight thru the board using the Extractor. It requires less effort to pull the nail with the pliers than using a claw hammer.

Available from Just Tools

https://www.justtools.com.au/excalib...-pliers-hl1121

this is the oldest 'lazarus' I have seen. (1999)
TM

Which goes to show that no thread is ever dead they just go dormant for a while.