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For your starting point, choose the most convenient free end of the board you wish to lift. If the board extends right across the room and under the skirting (baseboard) on both sides, you have to start lifting it in the middle and work gradually towards the ends. When all the nails are loose, you spring the board free by pulling it upwards into a bow shape.

To lift the board, insert a bolster into the joint gap between it and the board on one side, in line with the nails at the free end. Use a club hammer to drive it home. Then stamp on the bolster to push it down towards the floor (Fig 1 ).

Do the same on the other side of the board. As the board is levered up, insert the claw of a hammer under the end and continue levering up from here until the board comes completely free of the joist. To help lift the rest of the board, insert a metal bar, length of stout timber or piping underneath the free end. Use the bolster and hammer to loosen the board at each line of nails, then lever it clear with the metal bar.

For safety, immediately remove any exposed nails particularly those left upright in the joists. A crowbar is much easier than a claw hammer for this job.

If a board proves particularly stubborn, try to free one end and insert a metal bar under it. Using the bar as a levering support, stamp on the free end. After each stamp there should be some 'give', so move the support along the board towards the next joist until the nails give way here.

[edit] Lifting T&G Boards

Start by choosing a suitable free end and section of board, well clear of the skirting. To break the tongue, insert a bolster into the join between two adjacent boards at the end of the board you wish to lift. Give the bolster a few sharp taps with a hammer, until you feel or hear the tongue below start to split.

Continue until the split extends at least 75 mm from the nails, or until you otherwise judge it to be clear of the joist. You can then replace the bolster with a saw, knowing that its blade will escape damage from floorboard nails.

You can use almost any type of saw but a compromise between the awkward length of a panel saw and the short length of usable blade on a tenon saw is a purpose made flooring saw ( fig.4 ).

If a power saw is used, set the sawing blade depth to about the thickness of the board to avoid any damage to the sub floor (if any), or to pipes or wires suspended below the flooring. Continue cutting between the two boards until you are about 75 mm from the next line of nails, and once again use the bolster to break the tongue along the stretch over the joists.

When the tongue is fully severed, use the bolster, claw hammer and metal bar to lever up the board as you would do to lift a square edged one. In this case, though, concentrate your levering activities at the end and along the severed side of the board at each joist. You should be able to lift the nails and tilt the board enough for the interlocked side to slide free of the adjacent board.

Well fitted tongued and grooved boards may be so tightly cramped together that splitting them apart with a bolster and hammer may not be possible without causing extensive damage to both boards. In this case, the board you wish to remove must be split lengthways at the middle. A power saw is best for this job.

[edit] Cutting Across Floorboards

In a single skin floor of the sort used in Australia, it is best to cut across a floor­board either over a joist or to the side of one, so that support for the new board ends is readily available. Cutting over a joist is a little more difficult than cutting beside one, but enables you to nail the cut section straight back in place. A double skin floor can be cut anywhere, but try to avoid having two cut ends side by side on the floor.

Cutting On A Joist:

It is important to make the cut along the centre of the joist, otherwise one or other of the two freshly made board ends is not going to be supported properly.

The centre line of the joist can be pin pointed by following on the line of nails of adjacent boards and board ends. Use a try square to pencil a cutting mark on a line joining the farthest possible reference points on each side of the board you are cutting. You can do this by eye or, better, by stretching a piece of string over the distance between the two points. If you are cutting alongside a board with a clearly indicated joist, just continue the line of the board end (or fixings) when marking the cutting line. If the nails are staggered, take a common centre-line from as many boards as possible.

To make the cut, you can leave the board in place and use a pad saw, circular power saw or power jig saw. But if the board is long enough, it is easier to lift it up into a 'hump' and cut with a tenon saw or flooring saw. To do this, you lever the board up wards with the bolster and then support it with two off cuts of timber wedged beneath it.

Cutting Beside A Joist:

First locate the side of the joist. You may be able to do this by inserting a knife or metal rule into the gap between the floor­boards, sliding it along until it hits the joist. Mark the board at this point, and use a try square to complete the cutting line. Alternatively, and if there is a gap between the floorboards on the other side, repeat probing and simply join up the two points marked on the board. Drill an 8 mm hole up against and at one end of the cutting line, then use a pad saw or power jig saw to cut next to, and along, the cutting line. The pad saw can be replaced with a handsaw or circular power saw when convenient, and reused if necessary at the end of the cut.

Fitting An Extra Bearer (Cleat)

If you have removed a section of floor board by cutting along the side of a joist, you must fit an extra bearer (cleat) of timber to the joist, in order to provide support for the new board end.

Make this bearer from an off cut of softwood, whose minimum dimensions ought to be no less than 38 mm by 50 mm. Cut it to length, slightly longer than the width of floor boarding removed and use either nails or screws for fixing it in place.

If you choose nails, use two or three about 75 mm long for each floorboard width, and hammer these partially into the broader side before positioning the bearer.

If you use screws, two for each board width are enough, but drill pilot holes before fitting them.

Position the bearer against the joist and make sure that the top edges of both pieces of timber are exactly flush. Pull the bearer upwards, tightly against the floorboards on either side, while you hammer or screw it securely in place.