Floor Removal

[benherman1]

It has finally warmed enough that I have gotten back to the bus. I have started on the floor and am having a hell of a time making any progress. When I actually manage to get the prybar under the plywood I end up ripping a tiny piece off rather than anything substantial. I have found some interesting fasteners and am interested in the best way to attack them before I start any fires with the angle grinder.

How did you remove yours?

[chessie4905]

they are like elevator bolts. big wode thin head. If you are dealing with an empty shell, you can burn the heads off. keep water handy. or drill out center of head. probably with a 1/2" drill. you could also try an air chisel.

[modernbeat]

This guy has videos of him removing the floors.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugJjD3c3dOXAVUJl5172hg

He uses a Skill saw to cut grooves in the wood floor almost all the way through, but not deep enough to cut the metal below the floor. Then he takes a wrecking bar to remove as much floor as possible. Then a chisel to remove the chunks of wood around the bolts. Then hand tools to remove what fasteners he could, and an angle grinder to remove those that were stuck.

[benherman1]

they are like elevator bolts. big wode thin head. If you are dealing with an empty shell, you can burn the heads off. keep water handy. or drill out center of head. probably with a 1/2" drill. you could also try an air chisel.

It started as a "renovation" but every time I took something off I found something worse behind it. The room the previous owners used to cook meth in my garage was considerably better built.

I was hoping they were bolts. I have a 5/8" flat head screw bit I can put on the impact wrench. That's how I got the bolts holding the duct work in

[benherman1]

This guy has videos of him removing the floors.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugJjD3c3dOXAVUJl5172hg

He uses a Skill saw to cut grooves in the wood floor almost all the way through, but not deep enough to cut the metal below the floor. Then he takes a wrecking bar to remove as much floor as possible. Then a chisel to remove the chunks of wood around the bolts. Then hand tools to remove what fasteners he could, and an angle grinder to remove those that were stuck.

I thought about doing something similar but I'll need to pick up a blade that wont mind eating metal bits first.

[chessie4905]

A torch to burn off the heads is the fastest way if you are removing all the floor. Any thing else will take more time. This is what I used to dismantle a Flxible city bus after tryng other said ways. Went fast and done in half a day or less. Even faster is have someone pry up on plywood while burning off head. Move to next one when that bolt releases.I just wet each spot after removing head. Of course if you dont have a torch, nevermind.

[pabusnut]

I got many of mine out with the cordless drill.
The stubborn ones I ended up grinding a + in the head and chiseling them out.
Years after I was done, someone posted that they used a holesaw to cut a hole around the stubborn bolt, and then lift the sheet off.  Then in was easier to cut the little piece of plywood off, and cut the bolt off.

[chessie4905]

Good idea.