I am installing a new floor in 3000 sq.' and part of the downstairs has existing hardwood that has apparently been glued to the subfloor (the rest is carpet). Any ideas on the best way to get it up without tearing up the subfloor too badly?

TIA,

Do you have to take it up? Why?
Just curious.
Charlie

i think i have to take it up because the rest (most) of the house is carpet and i will have a raised surface where the existing hardwood is (just the hallway and entryway).

if there's a way around this without taking up the glued down wood i'm all for it. any ideas?

I have been presented with this dilema many times before. I have thought and thought and have not come up with an "easy" way. As I see it, you have three choices. Leave the existing wood floor in place and add plywood to the other areas that will get the new flooring so as to have an even substrate. Leave the existing floor and don't add plywood but you will have a ramp up and down at the transition between heights. Esthetically, the least favorable but the easiest and cheapest. And third, remove the existing wood floor. If nailed down, not too bad. If glued down to plywood, a major bummer. You will tear up the plywood in removal and then need to fix it or replace it. All very time consumning and expensive. That is why I always suggest installing an underlayment over a wood subfloor when gluing down a hardwood floor. Read this:

thanks, gary.

unfortunately, the carpeted part of the house it too great to try to add leveling ply. option 2 will have to be approved by the boss (she won't like that). so option three is about all that's left. i was hoping there may be some kind of way to loosen the adhesive (heat, chemical or other) to allow for easier removal, but alas, it's never that easy is it?

thanks again and i'll keep you posted as the job progresses (2-3 wks).

bill

If it is over wood and glued directly to the substrate, It would be easy to cut throught the substrate around the wood to the nearest floor joist and cut into strips, across the wood flooring and take a pry bar and go for it, praying they didn't use screws!!!

If it is screwed down, Mark the floor joist. and make a cut on both sides of each joist. The floor will fall through to the basement or crawl space if your not carefull or it is too big to handle solo.

Then block between the joist at the walls and anywhere you need "dead wood" including sistering to the joists, so the new plywood subfloor will have support all the way around.

It just sounds like a lot of work, but not compared to putting plywood over the rest of the floor, including the cost of the plywood & fasteners.

ok, i've been getting the old floor up and am finding that sometimes the glue stays on the hardwood, but tears up some of the osb with it, leaving valleys in places and sometimes it sticks to the osb leaving glue "hills". i can probably get the glue that stays on the osb off with careful scraping/chiseling, but the valleys concern me.

is there some type of filler i can lay down to level the surface (i'm trying not to have to replace the subfloor) or is it possible that the 3/4" cherry i'm putting down will be sound enough to span these valleys if nailed down well or will it create problems if there are some hollow spots below it? it appears that only the top layer of osb is coming up in spots leaving valleys about 1/8" deep in spots.

if i do have to replace the subfloor, would i be better off using plywood instead of osb or should i stick with what is already there?

thanks in advance - everyone on the board has been very helpful!

bill
franklin, tn