Lifting tongue and groove floorboards.

[steve.c]

Can anyone give me tips on the easiest/neatest way to lift tongue and groove floorboards. I am planning on having my boiler replaced and want to renew all pipework and rads myself so a lot of boards will need to come up. Any tips please.

 

[joe-90]

I use a reciprocating saw and a couple of smallish lifting bars.

You can use a Skillsaw but if you hit a pipe you'll go straight through it.

 

[steve.c]

Would I use a reciprocating saw to cut along the tongue and if so would my circular saw set to a very shallow depth do the job just as well?

 

[joe-90]

Would I use a reciprocating saw to cut along the tongue and if so would my circular saw set to a very shallow depth do the job just as well?

Yes, but the pipes are sometimes just below the surface, the slightest nick and you've got a flood.

If the pipes have been added later then the T&G will already have been up.

 

[jimmylynn]

For a puker job you need to go to the wall, remove the skirting and lift the first board, the rest of the boards should now come up fairly easy using a board lifter, right back to where you want to lay your pipes. be carefull to cut notches for pipes over the span of a board and not a joint. keep your cuts in joists to a minimum and mark the boards when you replace them, to show the position of the pipes you have laid and any other services you may have found, ie wires or gas pipes, if you are leaving the floor boards exposed then do this on a sketch

 

[Diyisfun]

I have always managed using a tennon saw, push it through to make a start, saw both sides, then prise the board up in the middle & saw across it.

 

[steve.c]

Thanks to everyone for the good advice. Will get the carpets up and see what state the boards are in.