Help!!!! I had a sub floor laid down and the people who did it used some super small heavy duty staples to attach it to my beautiful hard wood floor that not even a small screwdriver can fit in. I've broken two already and tried every needle nose tool and pliers HD has. I'm at a loss and their are hundreds of them. The company no longer exsistes. What can I do???? Thanks in advance. Just a girl who has no idea what to do with this problem.

not clear on why a subfloor would be stapled to a hardwood floor, "subfloor" goes under the hardwood. Maybe you should post a picture.

Sounds like they used a carpet stapler to install the luan subfloor for a vinyl overlay. Those buggers can be difficult to get out. the best tool to use is a bull nose pliers. It's a pincer type of pliers with a large rounded end. It allows you to grab onto the staple with light pressure, and then rock the pliers away from the staple and pull it out. The ones you can't get out will need to be punched down in the floor to leave a void for filler to be put in. you can get a fine tipped nail set that will do the trick...You already have a hole there, a slightly larger one will accept filler easier than what would be left from the staple or look better than having a shiny little staple profile shining up through the finished floor. I've seen these subfloors installed to where it seemed like they were literally stitching it to the floor with those staples.

That's too bad they went over the hardwood floor. However home owners should be informed, or know that anything over the top of hardware (i.e Carpet) will produce staple holes.