taking up a secret nailed floor?

[daveaspy]

My dining room has an oak floor (engineered? not laminate anyway) layed across the normal suspended wooden floor and secret nailed down with what looks to be 3 or 4 inch staples (I assume - very long, quite thin wire that must have come from a gun). I need to get under this floor in one corner to investigate damp underneath but its is proving quite tricky.

The boards were layed tight up against the patio doors where I need to start taking it up, I managed to hack out the thin (1 inch or so) strip next to the frame and now want to lift up the first full board. I was thinking I would just be able to pry it up but there is not enough room between the board and the door frame to get a crow bar in, well I can get it in but levering presses against the door frame and I dont want to push that out!

Any tips for getting these things up without destroying the boards as I really dont want to wreck the floor!

 

[Chri5]

Gentlest and with two or three people all levering at the same time with the same pressure.

Maybe a bit of 4 x 2 over the door lip, clamped will allow you to rest the crow bars or lever on the top of the 4 x 2 rather than the door lip.

At best 50% chance of doing it without splitting the flooring or ripping the tongue on the grove.

 

[gregers]

either above or try to gain access from another room,this may then need for you to form a hole through any sleeper wall/s you may encounter.

this is all ok if there is enough room and a deep enough over site??

 

[daveaspy]

thanks for the suggestions. I pulled up the carpet and a couple of boards in one corner of the adjacent living room but couldnt quite see into the kitchen area. (The earth under the living room was slightly damp/cold but certainly not wet and all the timbers felt bone dry.)

I will try the other corner of the living room and see if there is any access through. There is a brick wall under the floor separating the two rooms but might be able to make a hole in it if nothing already done