[oscarMadison]

I removed the hardwood floor from two bedrooms. I tried to pull it up in a way to salvage it. In some cases a portion the tongue splintered or broke off or split. The tops are still good. Are the boards that have some splintering or broken off still usable? Are there things that I should look for that determine if a board is good?

 

[Just Bill]

Almost impossible not to break some of the tongues. They can usually be reused if some of it is there. If too much is broken out, you can still nail it down.

 

[DangerMouse]

i had a small amount of flooring in the same condition....used and quite a few broken tongues. (sloppy/fast removal by ? monkeys?)
i REALLY wanted to reuse it because it was solid and nearly new. (storm damage killed home)
what i did was ran the pieces through the table saw to remove the remaining tongue, then grooved it to match the other side. i ripped some scrap pine to shape and elmer's glued the strips in place to rebuild the tongues. it took a little extra time, but to save that beautiful flooring, it was worth the effort.

DM

 

[oscarMadison]

None of the boards have all the tongues broken off, most is still there. Sounds like it is still good to go.

For the record, tearing up a wood floor was definitely not fun. The nails were a 1/8" diameter. Bigger then what I'm seeing in the store for flooring nails. Whoever installed it had put the boards in right up against the wall with no expansion space. Had a nice little wave in both rooms.