How to Remove Nails in Hardwood Floors

Floorboards can be preserved with careful nail extraction.

Hardwood floors are timelessly handsome and when repairing or salvaging floorboards it is important to take care not to mar the wood. Nails in hardwood floorboards are tricky because they are hidden beneath the surface of the floor, driven into the tongues of the boards. When replacing a couple of damaged floorboards, remove nails in a manner that will not scratch or dent the neighboring floorboards. If pulling up an entire floor, remove nails carefully so that floorboards can be salvaged, refinished and reused.

Things You'll Need

• Circular saw
• Pry bar
• Pliers

Instructions

1. Set the blade of a circular saw to a depth that matches the thickness of the hardwood floorboards. Make a cut down the center of a damaged board. If removing an entire floor, find the least salvageable board to destroy with the center cut.

2. Pull up the split board with a pry bar. Place a small scrap of wood between the floor and the heel of the pry bar to keep from damaging neighboring floorboards.

3. Look for the nailheads in the tongue of the next board. Pull up the board with the pry bar. Place the foot of the pry bar under the board at the point of each nail head, then lever the board up gradually.

4. Extract nails still stuck in the tongues of removed boards with pliers. Grip the nail heads with the pliers and wiggle the nails out of the holes.

References

• Popular Mechanics; How to Remove Wood Flooring in 3 Easy Steps; Alex Hutchinson; November, 2007