Maple Flooring Staple Removal

[pelligrini]

I just picked up a whole bunch of 3/4" x 3 1/2" maple flooring that was removed from a condo remodel we are doing. I think I got all the waste from a 12'x15' room, and a bunch of pieces from the cutoffs (sans staples) that replaced it.

I spent a few hours last weekend removing the wire staples that were driven though the tongues. It was a real chore. The wire is pretty malleable and the staples are really stubborn. I got better results when I clamped a pair of locking pliers to the wire and tried driving the staple out enough to pry it from the other side. More often than not the fastener would bend over then back out. Is there a better way to remove them?

I was thinking of finding a narrow tube that would slide down the wire to keep it from bending over and sliding a punch or some small diameter solid rod down the tube and backing the staple out with a hammer. I need to pick up a Fubar to pry them from the other side.

I'm not sure if the wood was a good find or not, being that pulling the staples from the first 8 or so pieces was no fun. Running them through my new planer was a real joy though.

[JimD]

My builder did not fasten the exterior doors closed and rain damaged a section of our kitchen floor and they had to tear it out and replace it. It had been stapled down. They threw it away. I had no space to store it at the time but I did not ask for it. I anticipated what you describe.

You could also try clamping the staple in a metal vise and banging them out that way. You could also try just nipping them short and leaving them (depending on what you want to do with the flooring. Or if you want solid maple boards, you could put am old cheap blade in the table saw and rip the tongues off with the staples still in them. I can't think of any really good way to do this.

Jim

[ironhat]

I have had luck with Jim's suggestion of just snipping them. But, I also have done well with getting enough of the head of the staple showing to latch on with a set of needle nosed Vise-Grips. Then, I strike the head of the V-G to extract the staple. Nothing is 100% fool proof but this usually worked on the flooring that I was dealing with. YMMV!

[pelligrini]

Thanks for the ideas. I want to get a bunch of boards out of theis material so they'll have to come out one way or another. At least the ones on top of that rack in the photo have no staples. I'll be sure to spec 6" flooring and nails only next time.

Man, that's a lot of staples. I've got a feeling I probably should have let sleeping dogs lay.

[charliex]

I've used a Dremel tool with a stone. Grind the top of the staple till it's in half and then pull it with a vise grip plier.

[Tom Slick]

I use end cutters as a nail/staple remover. it works great and it somewhat quick. the roundness of the pliers makes them work like a nail puller/prybar. If you leave them sharp then you need a gentle touch on the thinner nails because you'll cut them off. you can file the jaws a bit and they won't cut well but they will grip/pull better.

[Black wallnut]

Or if you want solid maple boards, you could put am old cheap blade in the table saw and rip the tongues off with the staples still in them. I can't think of any really good way to do this.

Jim

I sure would not do this. If you are going to leave the staple in and rip off the tongue use a band saw. Once I was cleaning up an edge of plywood that was salvaged and I had missed a brad nail. The blade cut it but also launched it into one of my fingers. I'll bet it went all of 3/16" in and it was a 16 ga. brad. To say it hurt a bit is true. The bleeding stopped after about a minute of pressure and no scar was left that I can find but it really smarts when you get hit by a nail at BT3K blade speed!

[pelligrini]

I probably wouldn't try to rip through them either. I may crosscut around the really stubborn ones. The installers had a pretty good gun and all the tops are embeded into the tounge. They were also shot at an angle. I used my end cutters some, but I was getting better results prying them with a long narrow pry bar while standing on the board, once I backed them out enough.

I might try snipping them on the backside and backing it out with a nailset. I think I'll have plenty of tries to find a good way to do it.

[pelligrini]

I tried several methods yesterday and the easiest and most efficient was clamping both ends of the staple in a vise then striking the edge of the wood with a hammer to drive the staple out just far enough to get a pair of vise grips on them. I used a 2x4 scrap block with a couple 45 degree cuts making a v shape for the stubborn staples.

Before pulling them out I clipped off the 1" long parts off the back with a pair of bolt cutters. That made pulling them much easier. Most would come right out with just a pull and a little wiggle.

I knocked out about a 100 or so of the shorter boards in about 4 hours.