How to Remove Existing Hardwood Flooring
- 1). Move all furniture out of the room. Wear thick work gloves.
- 2). Cut sections of the hardwood flooring with a circular saw. Start at one end of the room and slice long wood boards into 2-foot lengths. Dip the blade on the circular saw only deep enough to cut the board. Cut a 6-foot-by-6-foot section at a time.
- 3). Pry the cut boards from the 6-foot-by-6-foot section of the floor. Wedge the end of the pry bar under a section of a board. Force the pry bar handle down, lifting the board up. Work the pry bar down the length of the board, loosening it from the floor.
- 4). Lift the board the rest of the way from the flooring. Remove nails by grasping them with locking pliers and pulling straight out. Set the board aside.
- 5). Repeat cutting and prying the boards from the flooring and removing the nails. Continue to work around the room removing all the hardwood flooring.