Tech: Getting nails out of old wood

Subject: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 11:57 AM

Not quite the tech we are used to but old tech :-)

Just lifted lots of old floor tiles because they had been laid, not very well, on plywood which had been stapled, with heavy duty staples, to the old floorboards. The tiles are gone and so is the plywood. What is left is dozens of staples embedded in the floorboards.

Now, do I risk spending half a day on my arthritic knees to pull them up? Do I spend half a day stooped over bashing them flat with a hammer? Or is one of you clever people going to come up with a better alternative? :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: gillymor
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:00 PM

If I understand you, Dave, your looking at floor joists that have staples sticking out of the top end?

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: gillymor
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:02 PM

... and are you going to put down new plywood or some other subfloor?
How much area are you talking about?

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Mossback
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:10 PM

I don't think the joists are exposed - rather the old plank flooring that was under the removed plywood - yes?

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:11 PM

No, the staples are in the floorboards. The plywood was on top of the boards, which are fine. We are probably going to have Karndean flooring laid on the boards.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:11 PM

Horseback - yes.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:13 PM

Sorry Mossback. Damn you spill chucker.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: gillymor
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:20 PM

If there is some space between the top of the staple and the floorboard perhaps you can fashion a puller out of a 1x2 (cut to the length you please) with an appropriate sized allen wrench fastened to it so you can pull them standing up. As a guy with a new knee and 2 bum hips I often have to come up with stuff like this.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:25 PM

Staples can be difficult to remove - one end will come free, making it hard to grip the other end. I would hammer them flush, accepting that it would prevent sanding the boards in the future.

Phil

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:47 PM

Quickest way is to set fire to all the wood and burn it off the nails/staples,
then go over the ashes with a metal detector..

Some of the nails/staples might still be salvageable...


[PFR's guide to easy home improvements - burn it down and then buy a new build with the insurance...]

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 12:56 PM

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Staple-Remover-Lifter-Upholstery-Office/dp/B07DVGR5JF

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 01:22 PM

Just the job and at £2.98 in postage what is there to go wrong - apart from the feedback allegations. I’m sure other versions are available.

Carpet fitters always staple the underfelt down and those are a pain to remove.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 02:02 PM

Get yourself a garden kneeler Dave
I spent a lifetime removing old nails and tacks from floorboard in my work, quite often
I furd the best way ti get them out without damaging the wood is to get a short, flat strip of metal, place it adjacent to the nail, try to grasp the head with a pair of wire cutters and lever it out using the bar as a protective base
Slow at first but until you work up a rhythm
The worst job I ever had was trying to lift floorboards that had been fixed down with wooden pegs two-hundred years earlier
Donch'a just hate clever-clogs craftsmen ?
Jim

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 02:36 PM

To get old staples out of fence posts I usually end up with an old screwdriver and a hammer then a pair of pincers.
I find I have to often have to sit on the floor with one hand as a support as my knees will only take about 20 minutes at a time, so do anything that takes two hands first while on the knees and follow up with the single hand action whilst sitting!

Robin

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 03:12 PM

Suggestions being considered so far from both here and headache

- Garden kneeler. Thanks Jim. I need a new one after melting my old one (don't ask!)
- Low stool to sit or kneel on
- Flat cutters or carpenters pincers to pull them out
- Multi tool with metal cutting blade to cut them off at floor level

I shall experiment and let you know :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 03:30 PM

Headache = faceache!

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Mossback
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 06:52 PM

Morseback, Horseback, sqwidly borseback - no problem.

If you're going to put down new plywood or other subfloring, pounding the buggers flat with a hammer is the easiest way to go.

For the fastidious, removing all the staples prior to installing new sub-flrting over the old floor boards would be the way to go- but there's no long term advantage to that.

Home Ownership- ain't it grand?

All best,

Bill

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 09:00 PM

Crowbar or something similar.


Magnetic pickup.   NB: Does not work with members of the opposite sex.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Oct 19 - 11:25 PM

Depending on the size of the staples, I've had to remove heavy duty staples from wood a number of times and simply use pliers to grip the exposed edge of the staple and pull it out evenly (getting both sides). If the staple is flush with the floor then I have several implements to loosen it; a screw driver, a cheap knife that can work under it and twist a little to create a gap without breaking off the knife.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Gurney
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 01:06 AM

If you can grip the staple, grip it with locking pliers and rock it out, using a piece of thin steel to protect the floor surface.

If you can't grip it, you could grind it off with an angle-grinder and nail-punch the legs below the surface and then fill. This requires fine control, angle-grinders don't take prisoners.

I'm assuming that you want to save the surface.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 02:47 AM

The removal of old staples and nails without damage to the wood depend on leverage - pulling out seldom works and, speaking for myself, my pulling power with nails rode off into the sunset along with my pulling power with women, too long ago to remember
The small flat bar I mentioned will to, but, at a pinch, the blade of a large screwdriver laid flat on the floor will suffice
I spent a great many years easing up old floorboards for my work - an interesting occupation sometimes, especially when I rolled back the lino to find the floors covered with old newspapers in almost mint condition (an ols method of preserving the floor covering)
I spent an entire afternoon on my knees in the upper rooms of a pub in Vauxhall reading about the outbreak of W.W.1.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Iains
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 05:00 AM

If I understand correctly you are putting down a laminate that is glued in place. That means hammer the staples flat or remove them, or a combination. If you really want to remove the staples try a pair of vice grips and roll them over a thin piece of battening to remove the staples. Depending on the type of staple and the wood they are in it may just rip the middle of the staple out and leave the rest.(If you have ever tried to remove the slats off a modern pallet you will know the problem)For the real piggy ones just zap them with an angle grinder
It will be a tedious job whichever way you go.
Another possibility is clunk click laminate with an underlay fibre layer that will absorb slight irregularities.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: gillymor
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 07:56 AM

I was thinking about wiring a Dremel, or some other rotary tool, with a metal cutting wheel to a stick so you can work standing up. You might scar the floorboards a bit but you could also give your toenails a trim.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 08:11 AM

I am reminded of Blackadder where Nursey's brother cut his leg off while trimming his toenails with a scythe :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: gillymor
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 08:20 AM

I've been jerry-rigging tools like that all my life and still have most my digits.
Zipties might work better than wire.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 11:58 AM

Dave, if you are going to have Karndean flooring laid over the old floorboards, why not let the new crew deal with the staples?

If the staples project, they can remove them, and if they don't project, they may just put underlayment down which smooths over unevenness in old floors.

Underlayment has been around a long time.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 01:03 PM

It's just uncomfortable to walk on in the meanwhile leeneia. We are having a new kitchen fitted and the new floor will not go down until early December.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: JHW
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 03:01 PM

Molegrips. Grip staple with molegrip locked and lean molegrip over on something to lever out. see Gurney above. Yes you'll need something to kneel on.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 05:22 PM

"Getting nails out of old wood"


..anyone else seen the potential for a smutty 'ooer mrs' joke...???

"... aaaaggghhh.. told you your nails looked like they needed filing...!!!???"

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 06:02 PM

I'm sure molegrips could be included in either removing the staples or a smutty joke...

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 07:23 PM

Now, do I risk spending half a day on my arthritic knees to pull them up?

Do you have children/grandchildren who are up to the job? If so, you could play the age card by dropping hints about how tiring it is shopping for all those Christmas presents that you MIGHT be buying.

DC

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Oct 19 - 07:54 PM

Can't you find some animal or other that's on a staple diet, Dave?

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Oct 19 - 01:55 AM

Oh my. Does this ever take me back.

I used to manage a number of residences. In one, I needed to replace the carpeting in two bedrooms. OK, no problem. I sliced the carpets to pieces and pulled them up.

However. Under both of them were beautiful parquet floors. And. The carpeting had been put down with a thousand staples.

Back then, my knees were still in pretty good shape but it was beyond a tedious job. Over a period of three days I learned to do it yard by yard - I surrounded myself with pried up ends then went back and painstakingly pulled them up. It was slow going but there was a feeling of accomplishment as, little by little, I cleared the land.

Nowadays, I'd hire some young sprats.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Oct 19 - 04:50 AM

I like the wheeze of the flat metal, (old knife?). Cut a bean can and unroll, or why not the aluminium top. All it will do is make less of a mess of the wood, which if you are covering it again - who cares?

If you have to hammer them flat use the screwdriver as a punch (drift?) and place over the bit that you can sit the screwdriver on and hammer the other end. I also would use a (substantial) upside-down nail with a flat head because the head can cover the thin stub that can't be gripped and the nail head has more "pounds per square inch" than a hammer, less than screwdriver but won't slip off the spike. Hold with those pliers if necessary.

Good luck with your staple diet........... hope you nail it ..............




I'll get my Swish Army Knife (I use the pliers attachment on the Ceilidh floor staples at folk festivals, I am known for it).

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 09 Oct 19 - 08:30 AM

My memory is clear enough right now to state the bleedin' obvious...

I now remember many years ago I bought a staple remover from WH Smiths..

[or it could have been Staples.. before they were removed from the trading estate...]

Googling staple extractors or staple removers results in various sharp grabby grippy looking tools...

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Oct 19 - 11:54 AM

Got my garden kneeler, carpenters pincers, multi-tool and cutters. Going to have a go tomorrow.

Further to the saga, part of the kitchen used to be a scullery and in that section, the floor is concrete. For some inexplicable reason, the plywood was fastened down there with plugs and screws every 3 inches or so. The screw heads just ripped through the plywood of course and as they had had tile cement on them the slots were not available to unscrew them. They did, fortunately, pull out, plug and all, quite easily with the aid of a hefty claw hammer:-)I

Annoyingly, if they had used screws to fasten the plywood down in such a way everywhere, the plywood would not have flexed, the tiles would not have cracked and we would not now be renewing the floor covering. Ah well. C'est la vie as they say in Cleckheaton...

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: EBarnacle
Date: 09 Oct 19 - 03:35 PM

IIf it's not too late, just enter heavy duty staple remover into your search engine. The information is right there.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Oct 19 - 04:12 PM

google? I just use a small pry bar and locking plyers for the stubborn remnants.
Gillymor you should sell your alternative tools or at least publish

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Oct 19 - 05:30 PM

Gurney is right about locking pliers... others are right about a(thin) screwdriver to loosen them. "Molegrips" seems to be a UK word for a brand of locking pliers. Certain types have a rounded back that one can brace on the floor after getting a grip and rocked backwards for leverage. If any break, they CAN be hammered in/down.

I wish I'd seen this earlier... I'd have posted some pics in Dropbox.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Raggytash
Date: 09 Oct 19 - 06:02 PM

There is only ONE answer Dave, you have to remove them, one and all.

If you give yourself a square metre to do at a time. I'm sure you will do more than that but if you don't you will only make it much harder for the next poor sod who wants to replace the same floor and sand the existing boards at some point.

There are no short cuts!

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Oct 19 - 02:38 AM

The floor is not really good enough for that, Raggy. If I wanted a sanded floor I would replace the old boards with T&G anyway. But I am going to pull them out anyway! I have a staple puller arriving today - thanks EB but I beat you to it by about 4 hours :-)

I'll probably give the old knees a text and start tomorrow now

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Raggytash
Date: 10 Oct 19 - 02:58 PM

Ye Gods, your knees must be really bad if you have to text them!!

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Oct 19 - 03:07 PM

Makes a change from giving them a rest :-)

The heavy duty staple remover bent at first attempt :-( Pincers work and for the stubborn ones, a bit knocking stick!

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Gurney
Date: 10 Oct 19 - 03:50 PM

Mole Grips, Vice Grips, locking pliers, all the same tool, the first two are brand names. They last a lifetime. You only need them occasionally, but when you do, nothing else will do the job. Dave, how have you managed to do without them for so long?

I just did a mental count. I have seven. Two standard, one slip-jawed, three tiny ones, and a small long-nosed. But then, I've made my living in both engineering and building maintenance.

When pincers are very new, they will cut the legs off staples, leaving two needles sticking up. They work, but they are meant for pulling small nails, not skinny staples.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Oct 19 - 10:19 AM

Moleys certainly do the trick Gurney. Thank you.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Oct 19 - 10:45 AM

The multi-cutting tool does too but leaves marks on the boards. Not that it matters!

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: DaveRo
Date: 11 Oct 19 - 04:41 PM

A brief history of mole grips

The Mole name is now owned by Stanley Tools.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Gurney
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 12:47 AM

Thanks, DaveRo. They were always Mole Grips when I was growing up in England. They also called all vacuum cleaners 'Hoovers.'

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: leeneia
Date: 13 Oct 19 - 03:45 PM

Hi, Dave. So I guess your project is coming along. Keep us posted on your progress.

In America we call mole grips 'vise grips.'

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting nails out of old wood
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Oct 19 - 08:38 PM

Another way is to burn the wood to ash and sieve out the nails.