Q: One visitor asked, "I have been offered the salvage of several thousand square feet of hardwood (maple) flooring from a gymnasium of a building that is being demolished, and would like some suggestions on how best to do this task while maintaining as much of the material as possible.
The existing floor is almost 60 years old, and while I have not been able to view the floor itself, have been lead to believe that there is almost 1/4 inch of material above the groove of the boards. Seems when they installed the original floor, rather than sand the floor smooth they flooded the floor with varnish and let it self level.
The floor was also nailed down with spiral nails, not staples as today's standard would use. Thought is to use a small pry bar to lift the board at the point of the nail, and then use a sawzall with a metal cutting bit to cut the nail, then once the floor was off, to grind the nails flat with the board. When reinstalling the board, to then stagger the nails to the middle of the joists and then reattach.
Does this sound like a plausible method for you?
I would be interested in hearing how your firm does the salvage process compared to this method."

A: I think you have the right idea, certainly. Along with a small bar, I would also take along a bigger one if available. Rather than cut the nails off and grind them, I would knock them out in one piece. Other than that, I am with you on your method. If there is 1/4 left, then it seems worth while to salvage it. I will warn you however, that this is back breaking work. If you happen to break off a little bit of the bottom part of the groove side in this endeavor, It shouldn't be a factor when re installing.