Flooring/carpentry help

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  • nocomply

    Hi friends. I know, this totally isn't the place to ask for this kind of advice, but I'm short on time and don't know where else to go.

    My kid this this to our flooring last night:

    Here's what the baseboard looks like underneath:

    I'm not that handy and never had to fix anything like this before.

    I tried using a hammer to pull out the finishing nails but no luck. Should I just get a tool or hacksaw that can cut them off?

    From what I've researched, I'll need to use "finishing nails" to nail the baseboard back in place. Is there a special kind I should use? I assume I'll need a nail punch, correct?

    I feel lame asking for help on this, but I don't want to screw it up.

    Thanks!

  • monospaced1

    paging terry_cloth

  • kona4

    To get those nails out you're going to need a pair of pliers and brute strength. If you can't pull them straight out bend them back and forth until they snap off, then hammer in whatever was left sticking up.

    Once everything is back flush, run to Ace or Home Depot and pick up a tube of "liquid nails". You'll need a tube and caulk gun.

    Run the liquid nails goop along the exposed area of the base board, not the one that broke off.

    Place the one that popped off back into place.

    Put some heavy books or sit on it.

    Liquid nails your son to the bed in his room. That will teach him.

    Have a beer.

    Rip off shirt.

    Scream into the air "I. HAVE. MADE. FLOORING"

    • If you do want to nail it yes, you will use finishing nails for floors. Ask your store pro what they would recommend for a hammer.kona
    • I would recommend the hammer of thor but that's just me.kona
    • They will recommend a finishing hammer. It's small and light weight so you'll be less inclined to hit the nails too hard into the floor and the head of the...kona
    • hammer dents the floor and imprints it's head into the wood, or cracks it. That would be bad. Liquid nails should work though.kona
    • Kona your answer made my day! So liquid nails is good enough? No hammering in new finishing nails?nocomply
    • Liquid nails is scary strong. Just don't put too much so it oozes out all over everything. http://www.liquidnai…kona
    • PS - Should have mentioned I tried pulling the nails out with pliers but it felt like I was going to break the board. Think I'll need to break the nails off.nocomply
  • kona0

    FYI. Typing this out must have triggered something manly deep within me. My beard has grown 5 inches in length and a boat anchor tattoo appeared on my chest. Radical.

    • Drink coffee much?nocomply
    • Or maybe whiskey?nocomply
    • Also, Dad game on point. You knew it would take a boy to be this purposefully destructive.nocomply
    • Yep to all of those. I have 3 boys so it's most likely the whiskey talking.kona
  • terry_cloth3

    http://www.walmart.com/ip/8-Leng…. Get a pair of those, you roll the nails out using the rounded head as a fulcrum. You may need a shim or a block to protect the corner of your flooring if you don't plan on being slow and steady. Brute strength is not the answer here

    • https://www.youtube.…yurimon
    • Those are cool Yuri, definitely overkill though, he's only yanking finish nailsterry_cloth
    • Thanks terry_cloth! When you say "roll," you essentially mean pulling the nails out, but like rocking them back & forth what that special pliers tool, right?nocomply
    • Correct, it shouldn't take much back and forth though, mechanical advantage and so forth. Get the smallest pair of those you can find, less surface area of theterry_cloth
    • Tool means less pressure on the edge of the peice you are working on. Finish nails don't take much convincing to dislodgeterry_cloth
  • yurimon0

    laminate floors?

  • terry_cloth1

    Also, you may want to hit the inside of the jaws with a file, they come a little too sharp and prone to cutting the nail instead of gripping it. You don't want broken off nail stubs, they will prevent you from getting a tight fit. Also, what am I looking at here? Is that the threshold, are you sure you mean baseboard? Those pics are confusing, did you mean subfloor?

    • I know it's not a "baseboard." That's just the closest terminology I could think of. As you can see, I'm a terrible carpenter.nocomply
    • Think of it like a board that covers the edge of a step, if that helps at all.nocomply
    • Oh I see, it's some kind of super trip hazard pseudo stair tread. Wow, that's kinda specialterry_cloth
    • For the record... that would be called a "Stair Nosing".ETM
    • And if I were you I would install a few solid wood blocks in that void.ETM
    • lol, it's called shitty laminate stair nosing that is inherently unsafe and is little more than a cap to hide shotty workmanshipterry_cloth
    • real nosing sits flush with the flooring, for the record . . . .terry_cloth
    • *facepalmETM
    • what are you facepalming about skippy, facepalm at this stupid ass trip hazard masquerading as nosingterry_cloth
  • terry_cloth0

    Anyways, a regular hammer is all you need but it should be used in conjunction with a nail set, make sure you prefer I'll where ever you are going to nail with a hole smaller than your finish nail though, you don't want to split the stupid thing. With the nail set set the nails in about, I donno, a 16th inch below the surface of the threshold (assuming that's indeed what it is). If you have any extra flooring get out a saw or a sander and make you some sawdust, mix that sawdust with wood glue into a paste, smushing the paste into the cavity above the nail head, voila, nobody would ever be the wiser

  • eryx0

    Agree with terry not using brute strength. Don't know if you have to buy a specialty tool. Also I would say don't hammer that little bit broken off back into the board, might go though the other side and damage the other side. Do not bend that trim, keep it on a flat surface, use a block of some sort to pry against, something flat and firm so your not prying against the bottom side of the trim.

    I like the liquid nail idea as it is less to buy for sure. If you used a nail, use a finishing nail with no head and be careful not to miss, you might also have to get a punch to have the top of the nail go below the face of the trim and some liquid wood to fill the hole.

    if you have a weight set use those to push the trim down until the glue dries.

  • aslip0

    Straighten the nails and then lightly hammer them out from the under side. Apply Liquid Nails down under board and then put back in place. You should be able to hammer the finish nails back in. If not, buy some more and hammer them in with a nail setter (about $6). Fill holes with color matching wood putty.

    Best of luck!

    • They are just finish nails, you will never be able to back them out, we aren't talking about flooring cleats hereterry_cloth
    • Or cut them, if hammering back out is not in skill set.aslip
    • sigh, this is why god invented nail puller pliers my frindterry_cloth
  • detritus1

    Get your kid to do it. Spend the rest of his life blaming for the shitty job he did.

    Parenting!

    • Shit jokes aside, this is a great thread - I can see more 'Parent-like' threads popping up as the years go on :)detritus
  • eryx0

    Also watch out for this when your nailing it back together if your going that root.

  • fyoucher11

    Don't use liquid nails, thats not going to be strong enough. That's a piece of stair nose that came out and you're going to need something super strong. Take the existing nails out first. Then you'll need to put new finishing nails in, about every two feet, and double up on the ends. Then use PL400 adhesive to stick it to there good. Use a lot but not so much that it's coming out of the edges. Then cover up nail holes with putty afterwards. Wait a couple of days for it to dry before walking on it again.

    http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p…

    • good product, be careful not to get the glue on any finished surface. Don't gob it on and Have a damp cloth readyeryx
    • is it nosing? it kinda looks like there is a lighter colored band on the high side of the stair where the piece sat on top of the floor in stead of flushterry_cloth
    • it must have sat on top, theres no meat for it to have sat flush. i donno, that second picture is messing with my mindterry_cloth
    • It's def stair nose. Has the curved end on the outer side.fyoucher1
    • in other words, i'd think he'd have to cleat out from the back inside of that cavity to get something to hit to if it's gonna sit flushterry_cloth
  • eryx0

    Also make sure you buy a concave nail set, punches look the same but are different and might slip off.


    • a punch and a nail set are completely different, all nail sets have that dimpleterry_cloth
    • but i see what you're saying, good pointterry_cloth
    • I know, just did not want him to buy a punch by mistake.eryx
  • terry_cloth0

    fyoucher1. take a closer look. it's not true nosing, it's more like a cap to cover up the installers sloppy finish cuts. it sit's on top of the flooring on the high side of the tread, you can see the discoloration of where it had been

    • which would mean that the riser is level with the top plain of the flooring and he could cleat out on the inside of the joist and get enough meat to put someterry_cloth
    • fucking grk's in there haha, let's see the lil bastard rip it out thenterry_cloth
  • exador10

    super useful thread going on here..
    some great stuff from Kona and everyone...

    we might not always talk about design...and some folks here are hell-bent on trolling in the worst way...

    but...every once in a while...something like this...

    :)

  • eryx0

    nocomply, it's been about two hours can you update us?

  • nocomply2

    Thank you everyone for making this the talk of the town today!

    terry_cloth is going to skewer me for the bastardized fix, but thanks to everyone's input and a little of my own ingenuity I've got this thing done!

    It turned out to be easy, free, and most importantly, saved me a trip to home depot.

    eryx's photo of the pliers bracing the nail while the hammer pries it out was the game winner. Using that technique the suckers popped right out. I would have never known to do that if I didn't see a photo of it.

    As for the liquid nails, I opted for Goop instead. It's kind of like shoe goo, or this product I used to use called E6000. I'm familiar with it, and I'm comfortable with how it works, so that's what's most important. And the stuff is strong as all fuck once it sets.

    So now the board is back in place, the glue is drying, and heavy objects are sitting on top of it while everything sets. Also note the beer in hand.

    I. HAVE. MADE. FLOORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    The beer in the photo is unopened, and I'm busy as hell, but screw it, I'm opening this thing because it needs to be done.

    • Ha. Heavy object.pango
    • no skewerage, if you are happy i am happy. i prefer to over engineer things so i don't ever have to deal with the same problem twice but if you wanna us shoeterry_cloth
    • goo for your flooring then god bless you in that endeavorterry_cloth
    • *useterry_cloth
    • Thank you for your blessing.nocomply
    • Also, just occurred to me that my "heavy object" is KONA beer!! Serendipity, my friend.nocomply
    • *blushes
      Well done!!!
      kona
  • nocomply0

    Jeez, you guys are really debating the nuances of this. It's definitely some kind of "nosing" or cap, but I know not the terminology of these things.

    I think I'm going to go back and hammer in some finishing nails once the glue dries to make this piece extra secure and childproof.

    Want some better photos?

    • i dont know what kind of child could do this..yurimon
    • call it semantics if you'd like, what it is demands what the approach should beterry_cloth
    • also, pre-drill, don't split the stupid thingterry_cloth
    • ^ +1. Take your time, make it straight.eryx
    • Will do. Thanks for the tip!nocomply
  • eryx0

    for sure more pics. I would put some more weight on the ends just to be safe. Good job! ( Also i fear that case might get too light)

    I think we were getting persnickety about everything but just did not want to see you make it worse by damaging anything.

    You'll be putting up crown molding before you know it.

    • it's not persnickety man, all your weight is on nosing, plus it doesn't sit flush with the flooring so potentially a trip hazard when going down stairsterry_cloth
    • this is not the kind of thing i would jury rigterry_cloth
    • discussing between PL400 and E6000 is more what I was thinking of, if it is a tripping hazard, that's different.eryx
  • nocomply0

    Some of the other flooring caps / baseboards / thresholds / nosings, or whatever you call them have been a little bit loose since we first moved into this place.

    I'm going to get some finishing nails and a nail punch to get them set solid before something like this happens again.

    But in the meantime, crises averted. My 17 month old tornado of a boy no longer has a death trap in his play area.

    More detailed pics below:

    • everything looks flush to me. Good joberyx
    • flush on the top sideterry_cloth
    • flush on the riser is only a trip hazard if gravity gets reversed and you are in danger of falling towards the ceiling derpterry_cloth