I have a home from the 70s that experienced some water damage due to ice dams. The subfloor is made of particleboard sitting on top of plywood. Unfortunately, the particleboard is heavily glued and nailed down, making removal of the damaged sections a real hassle. I've been trying to take out the water-damaged particleboard, but the glued parts are sticking firmly to the plywood. So far, I've attempted using a putty knife—no luck. An oscillating saw has helped a bit, but it's very slow and I worry I might damage the saw motor. I'm wondering if I should keep trying to get the glued sections up or if I should just cut through the plywood down to the joists (carefully avoiding cutting them) and replace both layers entirely. Any advice would be much appreciated!
2 Answers
Honestly, I think you should consider using a skill saw. Set it to cut just deep enough to almost touch the joists and take out everything that way. Plywood isn’t too pricey, and it might save you a ton of time instead of prying every glued section off.
Have you thought about using a large pry bar? A 3-4 foot one could give you a better leverage to get under that glued particleboard and make the removal easier. Just make sure to be cautious to avoid damaging the plywood underneath.
I actually have a small pry bar and couldn't get it between the layers either. The adhesive is pretty solid, making it tough to wedge anything in there.
You might check out a driveway ice scraper if you can manage to get that in the gap; it could do the trick with that stubborn glue.
I’m leaning that way too if I can’t find a better method from this discussion.