How To Remove Hardwood Flooring (the EASY way!)

How To Remove Hardwood Flooring the Easy Way!
We had 3 different types of flooring on the main level of our home, so we want to replace all of this mismatched flooring with one cohesive wide plank French oak hardwood. Before we install the new floors, we're demoing the existing floors. Here's how we did it. Woohoo! It's Demo Day!
Removing hardwood flooring is an easy home renovation project that any homeowner can tackle. We'll show you how we removed our baseboards and shoe molding easily using the Dremel Multi-Max. #flooring #hardwoodflooring #homerenovation #demoday
I partnered with Dremel to show you how we removed baseboards and hardwood flooring the easy way! Check them out here: dremel.com
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[@carpetgallery6564]

Tip to help you out. Pry up on tongue side of the hardwood instead of the groove side. The tongue is where the hardwood is nailed into. By doing this you will create more leverage on the nails and it will be easier to pry up.

[@TheBudderPiggy]

I just finished removing old hardwood flooring and you are correct.

[@guyrobinson7857]

Hey Carpet Gallery... Your one comment was very useful! Thank you so much for putting that comment on here. God bless.

[@hamburgrhelpless]

Yep, probably 3 times less effort required when you pry from the nailed-in side

[@wayneli8377]

this is 100% right

[@Jungilingus]

Bless you for this. MUCH easier

[@gregdisbrowe9967]

I used a roofing shovel to removed the flooring after cutting. So much easier on the back and knees.

[@jtmtdm1978]

After doing floors for 25 years, I gotta say this gal is awesome. I wish I could find some help that is half as efficient and smart.

[@markcolby2927]

total waste of time, like her putting her tape on to remove flooring, lol. Of course the horny old contractors will love her.

[@1lapmagic]

You could try paying. The problem with guys who've been doing flooring for 25 years is you think everything costs the same as 25 years ago despite buying shit every day.

[@methodswan]

Clear, concise, informative. Thank you!!

[@cryptogoth]

Great video, I like seeing it in action. Labeling the trim to reuse it later is ingenious. To reuse the planking, would you cut along the plank rather than perpendicular?

[@leannedeco9484]

I want to preserve my installed wood floors. How to pull up wood floors and preserve the wood? Is it possible?

[@rickyjah7745]

You want to cut the opposite way, get a row out, then slowly pull it up. It's very time consuming to preserve it completely.

[@malawigold747]

What about when the saw hits the staples/nails in the hardwood?

[@FredMcIntyre]

I knew you would pull it off! 😉😁 .... Nice work on the floor removal Jen! 😃👍🏻👊🏻

[@UserCAPTAIN]

Is it possible to place it back

[@splifsis25]

I hope you putting up videos becomes a regular thing cause u could teach us alot!

[@johnhartin6178]

A breaker bar is more efficient

[@webera]

Fantastic demonstration

[@smarkevans]

Thanks for all the tips. Just FYI, there are several broken links to your recommended tools in case you have time to update them.

[@gary24752]

With the cost of hardwood floor every effort should be made to salvage it.

[@thegooddoctor8479]

Prying from the tongue side is very important. You figure out which direction and face that same direction all day. I would get started with the hammer and prybar, then switch to using a spade shovel - after you've created a little room. You can work standing up at that point. Slam it under a board, avoiding the nails, and lift up with the leverage that you get from the added length from the shovel. Place the wood in an empty trash can and carry outside. I liked the numbering of the base molding as well. Good luck Ya'll, Hope you never have to do it again.

[@jgdlfamilyholidays5035]

So how did you pull up the boards at the walls? Did you have to cut them flush with the walls or were they laid up to the walls so came up easily?

[@JenWoodhouse1]

Since we removed the baseboards first, the floorboards came up easily at the walls. There's usually a slight gap at the walls to allow for floorboard expansion.

[@bothfeetin]

Wait!? What!? You got rid of the hardwood floors? 🤦‍♂️ good informative video btw

[@Fredfred91]

Thank you Jen 🙏

[@RayRv607]

Can this be done for just one plank of the floor without ruining the rest?

[@samschumacher2223]

Lmaoooo you could have just used a gutster demo bar 48" or 60" would have cut the time in half LOL do it the long way if you want.

[@jdbrookshire2708]

Good video for girls removing easy floors.

[@shelanefrizzell1256]

Wow please keep making videos 😍

[@dpmeyer4867]

nice vid, but too bad that old wood floor was thrown out.

[@sdean4816]

I shouldn’t say this but being the typical male you’re very cute! You could come work on my house anytime.?.. You also produced a very nice informative video. Thank you for posting . It’s going to definitely help me remove some hardwood floor I need to get up.

[@lakeview8838]

Definitely did this the hard way

[@kellybakes]

So what is the easier way?

[@brotherweitalk]

Awesome video!

[@johnhartin6178]

Oh no no no, your gonna be there all day. Yeesh, brother and i come in and rip that up without saws (clean an neat as well)

[@dappergreens4555]

My brother has a guy ripping up his kitchen. Not huge. 8 hrs later still tapping with hammer. MUCH smaller than the kitchen in video. This isn’t normal right? Seems wayyyyyyyy too slow.

[@Coinspinner]

It is hard to get the boards right by the wall to come up, you can't circle saw them. That wasn't covered in this video.

[@navydad8916]

Staple removal was more time consuming and a pain than the actual wood removal.

[@woozy607]

My back hurts just watching this, seems like there would b a machine to make this quick and easy

[@k.k8000]

It's so nice to see a woman doing this. I learned when I was 16 years old but forgot:( so just browsing through videos. Btw you're very pretty.

[@JenWoodhouse1]

Thank you! And thanks for watching!

[@Ortegaa9312]

@@JenWoodhouse1 Where did you get your pants? They are super functional, I need them!

[@richarddomsicz670]

why didnt you just use a 5ft long wrecking bar and save your knees?

[@MapleBar777]

I can only imagine her trying to huff the “murder bar” around 🤣. Twice the effort in one tenth the time tho.

[@pauldeiter59]

This might work if your hardwoods are not glued down. After doing demo on 1600 sq ft in my house (which was glued to concrete) this is total BS. Go to the rental place and get yourself the ride on floor scraper. dont mess around and you'll be done in 1/10th of th time.

[@tkeosaksith]

I'm sure you had a time line to put down your new flooring, but it's a shame to waste does hardwood planks..

[@angleshara6899]

you are awesome!

[@melindahang7]

How did you know how deep your floor is?

[@JenWoodhouse1]

Hi Melinda, We pulled up the first plank and measured the thickness of the board.

[@nickf5204]

Instead of using a small pry bar, use a 34-40” pry bar…Much more leverage on the wood flooring and less strain on your body. Otherwise great work

[@JenWoodhouse1]

Thanks for the tip!

[@Wavyboyangel029]

clean

[@linkstale]

my home only has hardwood flooring no sub floor!!!!

[@snowwalker9999]

subscribed!

[@ehudsonification3811]

The only part of this video I found confusing was reusing the baseboards. You’re willing to throw out thousands of dollars in hardwood, but not spend $0.35/foot on new baseboards? Saving the baseboards means scraping off all the old caulking, removing all the bent finish nails/staples AND not cracking them while removing them. Complete waste of time in my opinion.

[@JenWoodhouse1]

We didn't reuse the baseboards.

[@larrytrejo1882]

Yep your right wast of time.😊

[@andrewmiller9207]

You should have refinish that oak floor...

[@Indegio]

If the owners want the baseboard salvaged they can do that. sometimes if its a weird type of base or if your doing one room they will keep the baseboard so it still matches the rest of the house.

[@dongillis6769]

What would you do if your wooden floor were glued to a wooden subfloor? How would you remove that? I know it would be much more difficult.

[@rickgauden]

In this case you'd need a heavier hammer or a electric hammer with a wider claw

[@calbeebbqbbq]

What's a metal ripper for?

[@RageCityBiscuit]

Crowbar for baseboard/shoe 1000 times faster.

[@OsamaBeenHarris]

Those floors looked great already. Why go thru that trouble yikes

[@jasejackson9756]

She explained that she didn’t want 3 different types of floors in her house…I have the exact same problem in mine and doing the same project

[@brettishihara5317]

How come you put your tape measure on your pants in the beginning?

[@tylerramsey3607]

Does this work also for flooring glued down on concrete sub floor?

[@johnhartin6178]

No

[@grizzlycountry1030]

Gorgeous and Handy...what a dream woman! ❤

[@andrewmiller9207]

Looks like you tore up 3.5" white oak.....geez...not sure what your lutting down instead...

[@enkrypt3d]

this doesn't work that well for glued down hardwood floors....

[@hamiedmohammed144]

How about wood engineered glued down floor. What do you recommend.

[@TheSireverard]

a floor scraper, and a pallet buster. It's exhausting, but it can be done. Take care of yourself. I swung a 2# sledge for 15 hours removing glued engineered hardwood from my foyer and woke up the next day with a hand swollen to twice normal size.

[@andrewmiller9207]

I was cringing watching you run that saw over the beautiful hardwood floor....

[@gchevyman]

Great job. Just a note: please help recycle used wood to others 👍💪 gc

[@gettingpast4391]

multimax fin sux! blade loosens up every 15 seconds. threw mine in the trash.

[@melinageofashion]

No need remove trim huge wrong!!! Just cut across trim side then one nail pull out left over piece an you done save time

[@littleche7676]

Dang i have 2000 sqft to remove 😭

[@olivertheferret6910]

I have fake bamboo wood it’s a light weird liking wood but I really wanted to stain it fair wood but becuase it’s fake laminated wood ig I can’t do I wanna remove it

[@randyayo2846]

Try pulling up UA floors...this video will be 3 weeks long

[@nope53926]

What are UA floors?

[@randyayo2846]

@@nope53926 Flooring I had in my house, we had moisture issues (which everyone in south Louisiana does). Started pulling them up and they were splintering and the bottom layer was stuck most of the time. I couldn’t manage it with my jobs so I hired 4 guys to rip it up.

[@robizsuzsi]

thats crazy u might reuse the 25 y old baseboard ???

[@RICHIE_RICH89]

Never would of did that . True hardwood never dies tiles do. They go out in 5 yrs. New come in. I would of stained it a darker color

[@robauerbach7709]

Just lost a comment .. there and gone…

[@davidperry4013]

I would replace hardwood with high quality carpet in the bedrooms and repurpose the old hardwood as wall paneling.

[@RC-ld3cn]

Carpet holds Bettles.

[@gladenacole1524]

I'm just gonna pour water on my floor and let it bow

[@khandam7709]

what a freaking waste. old floors looked fine. they don't need to all match.

[@doublej118jc]

Babe!

[@jeffroid6275]

You're beautiful and handy You're perfect

[@TeamProsperity]

Wow a gorgeous chick that knows her way around tools and DIY stuff, doesn’t het any hotter than this. btw Jen, the last time I removed a floor like that It was kinda going slow so I contacted a buddy of mine and he gave me 27oz of C-4 and said try this so I did n I gotta tell yeah, it worked great at getting that floor outta the way 😳🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💥🔥I love your videos, well done. btw, that old oak flooring would make some nice projects

[@BobRooney290]

no easy way for me. you're removing an almost pristine floor, likely not very old. i have a 100 year old floor in a 1940's building. the flooring is only in one out of 3 rooms. its oak flooring and most of it is individually warped, damaged in a few areas, and rotted in a corner. the rot goes into the subfloor, which i have removed. the beams look good with no damage. i patched the subfloor but need to remove the oak. unfortunately, the nails are from the 1940s and are all rusted, which means the pry bar and hammer are a bad idea. being on the knees and breaking my back for days on end is not gonna happen. i'll likely get a Crescent bull bar. once i remove the oak flooring, i think i'll just add a 2nd layer of chipboard subflooring to secure it from the squeaking. it squeaks a lot. then i'll add a brand new layer of hardwood, likely oak.

[@jaycole3768]

The way to long. Try starting at a doorway then 1-2 rows at a time and with a big demo pry bar.

[@martinburch]

This is horrible. No one should ever, EVER tear out original hardwood. What an awful thing to do.

[@viking6535]

I absolutely hate hardwood floors. That's what we have through out our house. Yeah, they look nice, but for me, way too much upkeep, and they make way too much noise. I'm to the point of selling our house and building a 1 story home on a patio slab.

[@badmeme6801]

I see where you're coming from but if you were to go with something like carpet, there's just way too much dust everywhere.

[@mbrew3244]

That's too bad you feel that way. But chacun son gout. If you have allergies h.wood floors are the best

[@TheLisaGate]

We are pulling up carpet now. Horrible. Allergies got better over night!

[@Marvinfj32]

Waste of beautiful wood

[@jcardosa02]

what a waste of wood. someone could've used it

[@Eat_a_dick]

It's really great to have this kind of knowledge and experience available, but I feel like it's gut-wrenchingly irresponsible to take the easy way out when that wood was mostly in perfect shape and then to suggest that others do the same. Plenty of people would have removed that hardwood in excellent condition just for the wood itself. Keep making great how-to videos and keep learning great diy skills, Everybody.. but consider going the extra mile to think/influence beyond just your own projects. Influencers inspire others, so try to inspire in a positive direction. I'll shut up now.

[@RC-ld3cn]

If you are not going to reuse the wood, why save it? Also, doing it this way saves time on labor. I rehab houses and I what is easier and less expensive. Extra labor costs more money.

[@richray4893]

Kinda sad. The old hardwood floor was much nicer than the new fake laminate. I will never understand why anyone wants to remove something so beautiful and replace it with Home Depot vanilla laminate nothing. The French oak plank looks like it has no depth to the grain and absolutely no warmth. I have put in floors with character that these folks have never seen in their lives. What a shame.

[@JenWoodhouse1]

It's not laminate.

[@hvacthrills8490]

Thank u bichhhh

[@nyer070]

You talk a little too much otherwise good