Submitted by koalateasweety t3_z65tvb in DIY
I'm trying to paint a concrete floor (I know it's controversial). When I ripped up the carpet and tack strips, there were nails underneath that were left behind. I can't drive them farther in, they won't budge. I can't take all of them out, some won't budge or are at a bad angle. I tried a grinder bit for my drill, but the big didn't even grind one down. What do I do? I just need the nails flush with the ground
Then if you break that one, you know you use it enough to spend money on a good one.
I haven't tried with a chisel! Good thinking. I'll give that a shot!
I was hoping there would be a way where I didn't have to buy a new tool
Oh thank you! I appreciate the help
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Jesus Christ. 😂
“The nail will break beneath the plane of the floor”
Leaving the original up for posterity
It's probably 20 bucks at harbor freight and comes with a grinding disc. Actually I just checked and they sell one for $15 lol
A $20 Harbor Freight angle grinder with $5 in cutting wheels will do the job 3x as fast and with 1/2 the effort.
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I mean— minus the whole driving to a harbor freight part. OP already has a hammer.
My solution is free, and as a tip it’s generalizable, and something a lot of people don’t know— if you blow through trim with an 18 or 15 gauge brad, bending the nail back and forth until it snaps is a lot less destructive and easier than trying to back it out with a set and hammer.
Oh, them words hurt my soul and are forbidden in my world.
Get a face shield while you're there too, You might only have to do this once, but the cut-off wheels breaking/random sparks can really fuck your day up.
Flat bar is the appropriate tool. I like the longer ones, they pop those nails right out.
There is but it's not worth the labor vs grinding it down. U can bend them back and forth and eventually they will break and hopefully below surface but u can likely smash that little bit down. Just get a grinder and some safety goggles and let er rip
This is what I did. Probably wrong. But I used a short crowbar and popped them out. It takes patience, a bit of force, and you’ll figure out a technique once you get a few out. Broke concrete in places. Cleaned it up and used a small plastic tub of premixed concrete to fill it in with a puddy knife. Used an angle grinder with a diamond cup to smooth it out afterward. It was a process but smooth in the end and pretty cheap to do.
I was able to do exactly this with a vibrating tool.
Just use a hammer and a cold chisel. usually one good smack knocks them out. Leaves a hole that any quick drying concrete patch will fix
You can buy a grinder and grind off but you will still have patching to do from the grinder. hammer and cold chisel always works for me for tack strip nails
It’s worth the $15 to $20. It could save you hours.
use a nail puller, pry bar, back of the hammer, or a flat head screw driver
The right shape of hammer, a flatbar(like a crowbar but flat) or rounded pull pliers will all pull the nails with correct technique.
We had some embedded bolts in our pool deck that were part of an old diving board installation. They laughed at a dremel using heavy duty cut-off wheels. I bought a cheap 4 1/2" angle grinder with cutting discs and it made short work of the bolts.
Using the right tool for the job saves much time and pain. (More recent example: trying to cut some HVAC ducting in-situ between floor joists. Started by trying good quality aviation snips and ended up with a sore wrist before even getting close to finishing one cut. Bought a reciprocating saw and the rest went soo much more smoothly.)
redroom5 t1_ixzj3h1 wrote
Cheap 4-1/2 inch angle grinder from harbor freight will take care of those. I say get a cheap one because you might only ever use it this one time.