Usually I’m lucky enough that the subfloor isn’t glued when I have to remove a section. Not this time. I have to replace virtually a full sheet of subflooring and noticed it was glued down to the joists.
Dare I ask, often glue bonds are stronger than wood itself. What’s the easy ways to take this up without ripping wood from the joists and pieces of subfloor stuck on the joists? Or….. will I be stuck hammering and chiseling all day?
If at first you don’t succeed, try using a hammer next time…everything needs some extra persuasion from time to time. -ME
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Remove sections of the subfloor by cutting beside the joist in the joist bays. The turn you saw on its side letting the foot ride on the side of the joist and rip the plwood off. This will remove quite a bit. Use safety glasses and a traditional, not a thin, kerf blade. Then use whatever method you can come up with. Sawzall, hammer and chisel, Whatever. Take the saw and hold it so the foot is about a inch or so from the subfloor and carve the plywood away with the blade. Keep both hands on the saw and mind where your feet and hands are. This is a little dangerous but not really to hard in skilled hands.
Quick, thanks, sounds like a good plan of attack to me. It actually sounds easy that way. I'll be giving it a whirl Thursday morning.If at first you don't succeed, try using a hammer next time...everything needs some extra persuasion from time to time. -ME
Usually the glue bond is stronger than the plywood, but not as strong as the joists.
I've never ripped up ply and taken a piece of joist, but often some of the ply stays on the joist.
I like to cut in between the bays, or better yet, an 1" away from the joists, on both sides of the joists. Remove that big middle piece easily. Then rock the scab left over back and forth to try to get it loose from the joist. Don't fight too long. Its much easier to just run the sawzall across the top of the joist at this point with a metal cutting blade. Since you've already removed the majority of the ply from the mid-span regions, fitting a sawzall in there shouldn't be a problem.
While sawzall blades can get expensive pretty quick.... sometimes (many times) its worth it to put away the prybars and chisels and just hack away.
To whoever replied to me and then deleted.....
Could you please reply to me again? Otherwise this thread will pop up under "With Unread Messages to Me" headings for cyber eternity.
this posting fixes that...
Gracious, mi amigo.
guess I did a good deed... so much fer my reputation...
Another approach that may be helpful in the field of the floor:
Set the depth on a circular floor equal to the thickness of the plywood, or just a hair less. Plunge cut a whole bunch of kerfs thru the ply over the joists, perpendicular to the joists -- maybe an inch or less apart. Then make the cuts parallel and close to the joists, leaving only the pre-kerfed stuff on top of the joists.
Now you can use a hammer and flat bar to bust up the pre-kerfed stuff, and a beater chisel to take down the big pieces that don't come off with the flat bar. Clean up the remainder with a belt sander.
-- J.S.
WEll I actually tackled this project today, ripped up the subfloor and put down a new one for the lady. Tomorrow it gets Vinyled and fixtures back in.
For the record, I was very surprised, I had to do hardly anything to remove the floor. This floor needed a 5' x 5' section replaced (size of her bathroom) due to a leaking toilet seal which was not discovered until well...until a waterfall cascaded thru the ceiling below. Anyways...thru all this time the upper 2 or 3 layers of the plywood had been rotting. By the time I got to it the floor was still soggy.
I did what was suggested. I ran the sawzall blade along the joists parallel and cut out each bay (3 of em). I noticed that the ply over the joist, though it was glued, wobbled. I wonderbared it, couple-a raps and she came up cleanly. I would surmise the water somehow destroyed the glue bond because it was glued. A few places a part of the joist split and came up with the ply, few other places needed to chisel off a bit of glue, but other than that, it came up as easy as any other I've done that wasn't glued.
If at first you don't succeed, try using a hammer next time...everything needs some extra persuasion from time to time. -ME
There is a difference between subfloor adhesive and construction adhesive. And this might have been a place where const adhesive was used. Normally the subfloor adhesive is a bear. If the glue bond broke as easy as you say take a lesson and use the proper adhesive in your own work. Ry
Actually, I did use subfloor adhesive.If at first you don't succeed, try using a hammer next time...everything needs some extra persuasion from time to time. -ME
You, of all people should know....
Napalm!!
:)
Witty tagline...
I have a place where the framers got a few gobs of subfloor adhesive on the brick steps. Any tips for getting it off? Matt