Take a wide, flat prybar, a small one about a foot long is all you need, and a rubber mallet to tap the end of the prybar under the tack strip and just work your way around the room. Wear gloves - those tacks are painful.

We just did that in our home... and what aliceinwonderland said. We are nearly finished, should be totally done tonight.. whew.. but wow, does it look good.. wow.

Good luck.
Carolyn

Take a cold chisel(hefty), and pop the tackstrip right at the nail, with a couple of hits.

My electric compact jack hammer combo hammer drill with a flat paddle chuck, makes quick work of tackstrip.

That sounds like turning a 10 minute job, into an all day affair!!!

"...rubber mallet..."

A dead blow hammer works a lot better and does not beat up the user as much with rebound.

Posted by floorguy (floorguy@austin.rr.com) on Fri, Mar 16, 07 at 21:56
That sounds like turning a 10 minute job, into an all day affair!!!

NAW.......... actually it's quite fast and believe me, the Roto-Zip (w/90 degree head) just cuts sooooooo nice and flush........ remember, "pulling" nails out of CONCRETE makes big (1" - 2") "craters"........ so much nicer looking and less "mess" (NO concrete pieces, just a few nail heads) and a nice, smooth, hole-free floor !!

They must have been real good tackstripers!! To not bend a nail and pock the concrete when they installed it.

I will guarantee, I will have the strip busted out, and some mud mixed up, and have the holes patched, along with skimcoating the entire concrete surface, to encapsulate all the contaminates you couldn't get scraped out of the concrete pores, before you can get half way around a 12 x 12 room with a roto-zip, using the cut off wheel on hardened steel nails.( I have a roto-zip and that attachment)

floorguy..... you're definitely a professional, I'm just a "weekend perfectionist homeowner" that (as my Wife says) can take a two hour job and drag it into an "all-day-project"...... so YOU ARE RIGHT..... but I just wanted to state how "I" removed the nail-strips, especially in a room that we want to install "Laminate" flooring. I just rather NOT SEE hundreds of "craters/holes" in the slab.... that's all.......
By the way............ I am the guy who started the Forum Thread about the EXCESSIVE MOISTURE IN CONCRETE SLAB. Thanks for your help in THAT thread.... these "damp" Florida concrete slabs and certainly NOT "ideal" for laminate or engineered wood, although we have been in several homes with both laminate AND EW, used not only in their "family room" but in the KITCHEN, too. A year later no problem (for them !!) but THEY had "professinal" installation with all kinds of vapor barriers, floor coatings, etc. I MUST speak with them (BOTH friends moved out of state) and ask how THEY did it..........

florida wen....I wish to god I had followed your idea before pulling up my tack strips. I did it without thinking there was another way in two 10 by 12 foot rooms. Now I have probably over a hundred 1 to 2 inch craters I can't find a reasonable way to fill. I had the idea like yours to use a grinder to wear the nails down flush, but it came to me 3 days after I had already done the damage. Now, I can't get accurate information on how to patch these craters with something I can stain afterwards. Will the vinyl concrete patcher that is available from Quikrete take the stain reasonably well? AnyBody know? Or, should I use a concrete bonder (spread on with a brush)(I think also available from Quikrete) and then spread concrete into the hole and level off with a trowel? Then It would be concrete, so it would at least accept the stain. But I don't really know that this "bonder" stuff will really work. (I'm aware there will no doubt be substantial color differentation, but that is OK with me as long as it takes at least some color) I can't find accurate information on the web from someone who has done this. Meaning: patch the craters with something that will stick and is stainable. I've patched concrete holes before with just a mix of concrete and they don't stay down. That floorguy's comments are just worthless. Patching it without some bonder or binder, just doesn't work. They come back up or flake off. I need a method that will stay down and take a reasonable stain, so I can make a finished floor. Please help me, anyone out there who has gone through this. I would love to be able to go back in time and redo it with the grinding down method. It would save what seems like years and a lot of worry and uncertainty.

Slootie, I'm in the same boat as you. About half of my nails came out and half I'm going to cut off with a dremel. If upi find a good way to patch the holes, I'd like to hear it.

Hoping to get help from more experienced DIY'ers...the wood appears to be glued down in addition to the tacks on concrete floor. I tried a mallet tapping a flathead screwdriver under the strip. Barely got 3" up when it appeared i started a crack in the concrete further down the strip than where I was working and it cuts diagonally about all the way to the other wall. Just an enormous crack! I just can't believe I cracked my entire foundation trying to get a tack strip up!!

The plan was to try that new acid-stain and seal. Sure didnt want craters, but in addition to the tacks, I'm almost positive they are glued! Of course it's right up to the wall, so I can't think of another way to deal with this and now I have to figure out the damaged foundation. It's the corner of the house and thought maybe it was perhaps weaked by settling? Any help from more knowledgeable guys is truly appreciated.

Its been 4 years since slootie raised the question of concrete patches and stain. I've just started on this project and after 2 months of research trying to decide if staining our floors was a worthwhile project, I couldn't find answers I needed. So, now that I'm about halfway through this, I figured I'd share.

After pulling up 30-year old tack strips (some nails came out clean while others ripped out 2" holes), I patched with QUIKRETE Quick-Setting Cement (No. 1240). According to the manufacturer, I would only have to wait 7 days before staining with my water-based stain (30 days if they had been oil-based). I let the patches cure for 10 days before doing a quick sanding to smooth out some of the edges, and then dug at them with a screwdriver to see how they held up. No flaking or lifting at all. Once I applied the stain (3 coats in total for the level of saturation I wanted), you can't even tell where the patches were. I've got 2 more rooms to do, but so far I couldn't be happier. I'll come back and post pics soon.

Fill in the holes with an s2 polymer based adhesive,normally around £24.00.

Just look for self leveler, i use Larsens S2 great stuff and easy to use. Mix like cake mix then apply. Simple!

From Steve-o :
A different idea from a complete novice "with 10 thumbs": Why take out the old nails and mess up the concrete floor?
On the replacement tacking strip, do the following:

1. Remove the new nails that you would be pounding into the concrete.

2. Drilll larger holes to fit over the old nails.
   3.Fit the new tacking strip holes OVER the old nails.

3. Super-glue (gorilla glue) the new holes covering the sides of the old nail.

4. Install the carpet over the new tacking strip as planned.