Tongue and groove Floor boards... How to remove/cut them?

[jampot1979]

I am currently working on my house and need to lift a number of floor boards.

My floor boards are all interlinked (tongue & groove) and I am finding it very difficult to lift/remove them. The boards are quite long so I need to cut them short over joists.

What I am asking is........ what is the best way to cut them short? and also how to cut along the boards to remove the tongue & groove?

please help ...

 

[mattysupra]

Do you own a circula saw? i find it best to locate joists and test with detector to find if pipes or wires are below and then cut through with saw. Set the depth of blade to same thickness as board. And then also run saw down tongue and groove sides of board. You can get away with just cutting up one side of board. This should cause min damage to floor boards.

 

[jampot1979]

do you do the cuts above joists with the circular saw aswell?

 

[mattysupra]

you have confused me! You do the cuts with the saw through the tops of the floor boards. set the depth of the blade. Approx 21 mm and cut through boards in the center of joists. (where the nails are) but not through the nails! And then down the gap between the floorboards. The length! Does this make sence? Not sure what you mean.

 

[gcol]

If you're going to use a curcular saw to do this, be very very careful when you plunge the blade into the wood. It will give you a neat finish but it's none too safe if you don't know what you're doing.
You'd be safer using one of these: http://www.axminster.co.uk/product....d=Arbortech&name=&user_search=&sfile=1&jump=4
Just cut through the width of the board then lever the board up - the tongue/groove sections will split away when you lift the board but this is unavoidable.
If you don't want to go to the expense of buying a tool, just drill a series of holes (about 5 or 6mm) through the board (over the joist) that are nearly touching (referred to as chain-drilling) and cut the board that way. Not very pretty, but it works.

 

[jampot1979]

Thanks for the tips.

Sorry if i was abit confusing. Got myself confused

cheers

 

[masona]

I use a stanley knife very carefully and cut the tongue and make sure the blade is the right setting and not the whole width of the floor thickness