Nail puller?

[Mike Berrevoets]

Anyone have a favorite, good nail puller for this situation?

Our house (late 1970's) has 1/2 inch ply over the floor joists then they covered that with 3/4ish particle board. Not OSB, particle board fastened with 2" ring shank nails. The squeaks are driving me crazy and we are doing a major remodel on the kitchen, dining and living room with everything getting torn out. So now is the time to remove the particle board and then glue and screw some 3/4 tongue and groove down to stop the squeaks. And add some screws for the 1/2" ply while I have access to it.

Tearing out the particle board is a pain. Those ring shake nails don't like to give up. I can shove a big wrecking bar between the particle board and half inch ply between the joists but the wedging action almost punches through the 1/2 ply. If I do get under the particle board on top of a joist and get some good leverage the particle board just breaks off leaving the ring shank nail with a nice little mound around it.

Ive used a small cats paw with some success but it is slow going. Looks like there is some innovative nail pulling devices but don't want to spring for one if they don't live up to the hype. I'm also open to any other creative ideas on removing this crap.

[Michael Weber]

Slide hammer nail puller? Amazon has one and eBay shows several.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'd be real tempted to tear up the 1/2" too. You should be able to cut through both and pry up on the 1/2" & that should hold together.
QuikRip makes a super heavy duty pryer-upper thingie for tearing up roofing. I looked at buying one to tear out some old decking on the rental house we're working on.
I ended up just cutting away the old stuff instead.
They're expensive things @ about $200.

[Matt Krusen]

I have a tool called The Extractor that works extremely well. Its essentially a pair of pliers with a rolling cam to pivot on. I can't find it on Amazon but Crescent makes one very similar.

[Bill Orbine]

I have a tool called The Extractor that works extremely well. Its essentially a pair of pliers with a rolling cam to pivot on. I can't find it on Amazon but Crescent makes one very similar.

Yes, the Extractor are great pliers.
Unfortunately, the items are OOS from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/JEFFERSON-TOOL-HL-1121-Extractor-Remover/dp/B00461AFY0/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_opt?ie=UTF8

Or even the source till 11/15.

http://www.nailextractor.com/

I

[Mike Berrevoets]

Slide hammer nail puller? Amazon has one and eBay shows several.

That looks like it has some promise but a few Amazon reviews indicate it doesn't work on plywood very well. But it's hard to tell if those reviewers have any experience or are just expecting too much.

do you have one of these? (Or an old version) does it work on plywood?

[Mike Berrevoets]

The real issue is getting some nail head exposed so I can get a pry bar under and wedge it out. Leverage isn't the issue, it's the darn particle board.

I thought of grinding the heads off first. Then maybe I could pry up the particle board in big pieces and go after the nails with something like extractor.

i considered cutting out both layers. More work and material to put back but it might not be as frustrating.

[Tom M King]

I doubt I'm missing any kind, including some slide hammers. You need the small one with sharp points and narrow head. I can't find a picture online, or remember who made it. On the other end of the "cat's paw" is a curved flat pry "bar". It's probably only 6 or 7 inches long, and mine is blue.

[Michael Weber]

That looks like it has some promise but a few Amazon reviews indicate it doesn't work on plywood very well. But it's hard to tell if those reviewers have any experience or are just expecting too much.

do you have one of these? (Or an old version) does it work on plywood? Don't actually have one but used one occasionally at work a few years ago. Didn't use it on plywood though but can't imagine it would be a problem. The hammer action drives the claws below the wood surface underneath nail heads. The one I used was an antique and not sure if new ones are as "industrial" as that one was. It was about 2 feet long and really heavy.

[Art Mann]

I would adjust my circular saw to the depth of the particle board and then remove most of the material. At this point you should have ready access to the nails with a little judicious crowbar use. My experience with ring shank nails has been that the head often pulls off so that you can't get a good grip on the nail. In this case, remove the last of the wood from around the shank, pound it in to the floor joist and move on.

[Jim Mackell]

Yes, the Extractor are great pliers.
Unfortunately, the items are OOS from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/JEFFERSON-TOOL-HL-1121-Extractor-Remover/dp/B00461AFY0/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_opt?ie=UTF8

Or even the source till 11/15.

http://www.nailextractor.com/

I

I would sell you mine. But it would cost you your house, your truck, the rest of your tools and all the peanut butter in your pantry! Great tool. Bought mine 4 or 5 years back and love it. That said, ring shank nails are a *itch. As long as you're removing the article board anyway, just rip and tear it out by brute force and then cut the nails flush with a sawsall.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Not a tool, but maybe a method....

I suspect the ring shank is the root-cause; not the head or even the material. So, what about grinding the heads off (cut into the particle board, since it is trash anyway). Then pull the particle board out, drive the bare shank flush to the 1/2" plywood, screw the 1/2" down securely. Now put your T&G down and secure it as well.

Maybe....?

(Might also recruit someone for fire watch duty; much cheaper and less embarrassing than the alternatives.)

[Jerome Stanek]

Why not just rip the particle board and hammer the nails in

[Gary Yoder]

Why not just rip the particle board and hammer the nails inWhat he said...

[Allan Speers]

alternative:

Cut away all the nail heads with an oscillating tool.

Then just pull the PB up, and finally pull out the nails with a pliers and piece of wood for leverage..

[Rich Lester]

Had the same issue several years ago when we did our kitchen addition. Needed to pull up the particle board underlayment in the existing kitchen and family room. Broke out the shingle removing shovel and it worked like a charm. Just shove it under the particle board and pry it up. The shovel spreads out the bearing surface to prevent break through of the sub-floor. You may get some tear out on the half inch ply but you'll be covering that over anyway. My shingle shovel is an Ames brand but I would guess any shingle shovel would work.

[Bryan Rocker]

I would get a sawsall blade out and cut the nails off or a hand held grinder and cut the nails off close then beat them flush and go on.......For some reason my house has particle board under it to.....my house was built in 1961.......

[Chris Parks]

This is a nail driver, a friend of mine has one and swears by it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJOeJ-c3RAs

It will push the nails right through the pineboard, they show doing that at the end.

[Mike Berrevoets]

Why not just rip the particle board and hammer the nails in

The brute force method? Yea, that's always my first reaction but it doesn't work in this case like I think/thought it would. It just breaks the particle board in little pieces leaving the nails sitting on top of a mound so I still need to pull the nails.

[Mike Berrevoets]

I went to menards and Home Depot this morning buying options. Bought a slide hammer nail puller from menards. Didn't work very well. Worked sometimes but not often enough. I think the particle board was too dense for it to get a good bite.

What worked best was an estwing cats paw in the longest version I could find. It had a cats paw on both ends which was handy for nails against the wall.

[Mike Berrevoets]

Had the same issue several years ago when we did our kitchen addition. Needed to pull up the particle board underlayment in the existing kitchen and family room. Broke out the shingle removing shovel and it worked like a charm. Just shove it under the particle board and pry it up. The shovel spreads out the bearing surface to prevent break through of the sub-floor. You may get some tear out on the half inch ply but you'll be covering that over anyway. My shingle shovel is an Ames brand but I would guess any shingle shovel would work.

Ill give that a try for the next room in a few weeks. I'll tell ya, those ring shank nails have some pretty good holding power. Even with the heads broke off they still had some holding power.

Just curious, what year is your house? My contractor buddy has done lots of demo on old houses and mine is the only one he has ever seen with particle board. I don't get it because it doesn't provide much structural strength. the floors squeak so much it was the first thing I noticed when we toured the house before buying. My neighbors have the same thing except for the one that had his house built for him. The rest are "spec" houses. My guess was it was cheap to do and code allowed it so they ran with it.

[Jason Roehl]

http://www.amazon.com/BOSTITCH-55-507-10-Inch-Claw-Bar/dp/B003HGH444/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1444009051&sr=8-9&keywords=cat%27s+paw

or

http://www.amazon.com/Crescent-56-Nail-Puller/dp/B00002N7SD/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444009163&sr=8-1&keywords=slide+hammer+nail+puller

I've used the former quite a bit for pulling particle board underlayment. You hammer the bent-foot portion under the nail head and pry it up. It's MUCH easier to remove all the nails first than to try to pull up particle (sawdust) board. I've used the second item a bit, too, and it also works well.

[Rich Lester]

Ill give that a try for the next room in a few weeks. I'll tell ya, those ring shank nails have some pretty good holding power. Even with the heads broke off they still had some holding power.

Just curious, what year is your house? My contractor buddy has done lots of demo on old houses and mine is the only one he has ever seen with particle board. I don't get it because it doesn't provide much structural strength. the floors squeak so much it was the first thing I noticed when we toured the house before buying. My neighbors have the same thing except for the one that had his house built for him. The rest are "spec" houses. My guess was it was cheap to do and code allowed it so they ran with it.


My house was built in 1969. Every single room had particle board on top of 1/2" ply, only one room to go ripping it out. Was told by a neighbor that my house was the "Model Home" for the development. Can't believe they sold many houses with all of what I would call shortcuts that have come up during our time here. Replaced the particle board in the bathrooms with cement board and tile, in the bed rooms used a second layer of 3/4 t & g ply ran the opposite direction of the 1/2" and screwed down then had carpet installed. In the kitchen addition, old kitchen and family room 1/2" ply ran opposite and installed laminate.

By the way, I still had to go back and pull some nails with a nail puller but most came out with the shingle shovel. Take your time when prying it up that helps, pry it up a little then slide the shovel in more and pry a little more. at some point the particle board will break then you gotta start all over.

[BOB OLINGER]

I suggest what we call a crow's foot nail puller. Sorry, don't have a picture, but they should be available at your hardware or borg. You can sharpen the 2 teeth, drive the claws under the nail head with you hammer, then pull them out. The only challenge might be if the nail heads pop off given they're ring shank.

[roger wiegand]

I'd pound them in if they are too hard to pull out.