floorboards

Hi guys,found this forum about a month back,been reading lots of posts,very helpfull,just sold vic cottage we done a bit of work to and just bought another larger one,this one needs lots of work,I restumped the last one from underneath but this one I have to lift the floors to stump it,no room to slide under this house,I need some tips on lifting the boards as I would like to put them back down,not in the house yet,but im pretty sure they are baltic pine,lifting them without damaging them shouldnt be to hard but the other thing im not sure of is when I put them back down do I have to use a floor cramper? where do I get one if I need to,this is a great forum looking foward maybe getting a bit of help from some of you guys and contributing as well,the owners of our new house rang yesterday and asked if we would be interested in the old furniture in the house,the owner is 99 and he is in a home know,the wife said yes how much,there is quite a bit and they said $2200 for the lot,it took about half a millisecond for her to say yes.

regards charlie

Lifting floorboards without breaking the tounges is actually pretty difficult. I've seen professionals cut through the tounge on the length of one board and lift from there, on the premise that once you have one out it gets a bit easier. A lot depends on the depth of the nails - 38mm brads are easier to get out than 50mm. Also if the house is as old as you suggest, it may be that many of the nails have weakened either through rust or timber movement so this will help getting them up. Good luck though as i've tried and found it to be pretty tricky.

As for a cramper, you can hire them from bunnies reasonably cheaply or you could probably even buy a second hand one from a demolition yard - i think i've seen them around.

cheers
cambo

I'm guessing you don't need to rip up the entire floor to get access to underneath?? Just a few holes in maybe a couple of rooms should get you under the house easily enough.

So, to do this right, so that it looks good when and if you decide to polish the timber be prepared to rip up the boards you need to and then replace them with second hand flooring of the same type.

To make it so these holes are undetectable later, you'll have to cut them out in a staggered fashion, which will eliminate that trapdoor effect, which will happen if you just cut them out as a square.

If, on the other hand, you feel the need to remove the entire floor to get underneath, you'll have to sacrifice a few lengths to get you started. Also, you will lose a fair bit off the end of each board, so you'll still need some replacement material.

To do the whole room, run your circular saw up as close as you can to the two walls where the end grain is. Then, rip out one or two full length boards to give you some room to begin levering the rest up.
I find it best to pull up floors with the tongue facing away from you, so when you standing there looking down at the floor with a board removed you should be able to see the tongue of the board your standing on, not the groove.

Use a Wonder Bar or smallish crow bar to get under each board right where the nails are. Start from the left of the room and work your way along the length of the board and as you progress you will be able to get the board up maybe an inch or so. Once you've got a bit of movement in the board stomp on it real hard, or knock it back down with a hammer, and being Baltic, you'll find that the first row of nails will stay up, making it easy to pull them out. Don't rush to much and you'll save well over 90 percent of the material and the nails won't be a problem.

As for re-laying the floor, if it is Baltic, as your assuming, don't bother with using cramps to lay it. Just use a chisel hammered into the joist to help pull them in and lay it one board at a time. Take note of the gaps between each board before you rip up the floor and I think you'll find that the floor will be fairly gappy, which is just how Baltic Pine likes it, so don't be too over zealous to crank them in super tight as you might with a hardwood floor.

Anyway, have fun.

Thanks for the replys fellas,the floors in each room will have to completly lifted,there is definetly no room to work underneath the house,someone mentioned to me also to try placing a short length of timber under a few at a time and slowly jack them up,maybe just to loosen them all up first before lifting them,have you guys tried anything like this.

regards charlie

Quote:

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Originally posted by charlie
Someone mentioned to me also to try placing a short length of timber under a few at a time and slowly jack them up,maybe just to loosen them all up first before lifting them,have you guys tried anything like this.

regards charlie

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They'll split and splinter where the nails are.
This'll work if you just wanna get em up quick, but in your case your trying to preserve as many as you can for re-laying.

So ease them up carefully.

thanks Dusty

charlie

Quote:

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Originally posted by Dusty
They'll split and splinter where the nails are.
This'll work if you just wanna get em up quick, but in your case your trying to preserve as many as you can for re-laying.

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My Father in Law made a couple of floorboard lifting devices that worked really well.

Imagine a couple of forks with the middle tines taken out, only on a much larger scale.
The "fork" rests on the floor joists, and the tines sit under the boards and lift them in one go.

It helps to have a couple being used at the same time...

Hiya Charlie

Please let us know what area you are in .... as there is a huge amount of renovation going on in OZ at the moment, there may be folks here who have done this work and can refer you to hire places etc. local to you for floor cramps and lifters - personally, I will be interested to see a pic of the house and understand better what you intend to do to it overall

and for what it's worth, I am in awe of you.....done one restumping job and willing to do another!

:)

cheers

I have never tried it but I have been told that if you soak the floor the night before it softens the floorboards. The next morning the nails just pull through the floor boards.

This would be worth a try if the nails are rusted badly and likely to break if you tried to pull them out individually.

- Wood Borer

Woodborer, never heard that one before, sounds interesting but what if soaking the floor made the boards expand and locked the tongue & grooves together real tight? Don't know if I'd be game to try it untill I'd seen someone else (in an area with a similar climate/humidity level) have success.
Seriph1, good idea! If anyone's laying floors around Cairns I've got 3 floor cramps I'll rent out for a very modest rate (think of liquid payments:) )

Mick

Like I said, I have never tried it myself but thought I would mention it in passing.

When I see my mate next time I will ask him about the tongue and groove swelling.

- Wood Borer

Soaking "can" work but has a bunch of other associated issues - like swelling......but the tongues wont get stuck as a rule as they are a sloppy fit on old boards.....and of course, almost always asymmetrical, so "flipping" a few boards over doesnt work.....unfortunately I know from bitter experience, dill that I was..... flip - split - huh? musta been a dodgy board....nail nail nail....here's another one that's better on the other side.....flip - split - sh.......! oh look the groove isnt in the middle!

:)


No idea actually why tongues and grooves were offset all those years ago, but I am sure it wasnt just to pi$$ me off.......

Thanks for the tips guys,seriph we are in maryborough vic,yeah stumping is not a nice job but im going to spend six months on it full time so ive got the time to do it myself,the house is a fair size so it is a pretty big job,im hoping to knock it over in about six weeks and I will put central haeting ducts in it as im going,we will probably polish the boards pretty well right through the house,exept maybe kitchen bathroom,not sure yet,the house is empty so I have access allready but cant start work until after next week of course,but the more I look at the floors the more I see how out of shape they are,seen one spot today that looks like it must of dropped 3 maybe 4 inches,some walls are bowed also,when we get in there next week I will try to post some photos,I see you are around melbourne somewhere,geez you could slip up for a days stumping anytime you like:D

regards charlie

hi again

I am based in kilmore, though have contacts all over - I feel you will need a bunch more boards and if so, please feel free to contact me direct..... there a quite a few considerations when matching/replacing boards - the best way is to take a sample to the demolition yard and only get a matching age-material-thickness-width-and-profile.

Happy to help and would even be willing to call out and offer some ideas.....just dont ask me to get under the place

:)

Thanks steve,yeah I think I will need to buy a few extra boards,the bathroom will give me a few as it will be tiled,I dont think I will to mush trouble sourcing them there seems to be quite alot around,we have a timber recyler in dunnolly,then there is places in ballarat and bendigo also,if I get stuck I"ll give you a call,the verandah has to be rebuilt also,I think I will need about 50-60 sqare mtrs of hardwood,thats gonna hurt the wallet.

regards charlie