Tearing Up Hardwood Floors

Cut the hardwood flooring perpendicular to the direction the flooring is lying.

Tearing up hardwood floors.

Pry up the first few boards to give yourself room to work. Okay so the fastest way to remove old hardwood floors is to cut the boards into smaller sections. If necessary go over the area again with a vacuum or mop to clear away any especially fine dust remaining. Take down the tarps roll them up carefully and move them outside to be cleaned or thrown away.

This is helpful because hardwood planks are all different lengths and make it really tough to remove quickly. So cutting them into smaller pieces of wood makes it easier to pry up. By cutting the boards into small sections removal will go faster and smoother. We used several techniques that we found very uncomfortable.

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