What's it called?

Bret4207

Well-known Member
We're doing a renovation on our 1880's farmhouse. Previous owners put OSB over the original flooring and added some partitions. I need the name of the tool for cutting the OSB right up close to the wall. Looks like an angle grinder with a saw blade but has a foot plate. I've seen them but can't remember where for love nor money! Skilsaw cuts too far away from the wall.
 
Oscillating saw ? Harbor freight ones work fine. Really cuts close and you can feel each layer if cutting thru several. The replacement blades they sell are better than the ones that come with it.
 
(quoted from post at 06:08:07 08/11/15) Oscillating saw ? Harbor freight ones work fine. Really cuts close and you can feel each layer if cutting thru several. The replacement blades they sell are better than the ones that come with it.

Yes, it is called an oscillating saw. It also comes with a sanding attachment that will get into the tight corners. Mine is a "Porter-Cable" Found it on Amazon. Just handier than a pocket in a shirt.
 
What you are describing is a jamb saw. It would be better to remove the base molding and remove the OSB all the way to the wall rather than cutting it. I doubt if the original floor is salvageable. If they covered it with OSB and carpet the original floor probably has rotten spots in it and the only way to have a hardwood floor again is remove the flooring all the way to the framing. Chances are if the floor is in that condition the framing needs some attention as well.
 
When do you stop, framing maybe sitting on a poor foundation water coming in etc..... unless the home has historic value
do you patch it up or become a money pit. Around my area the money is in the location, they tear down houses built in the 1980s
for there new homes all the time.
 
Get a toe kick saw:
http://www6.homedepot.com/tool-truck-rental/Kick_Toe_Saw/775-647018/
That is one, there are lots of brands.
Oscillating saw is way to slow for long cuts. Jamb saw is for horizontal cuts on jambs and casing for inserting new flooring.
 
While what you describe has and is happening in places all over the country, its not the norm. There are a couple of places in the Atlanta area where the older neighborhoods were built in what have become very upscale areas, and people are buying two or three or four houses and tearing them down and building McMansions to replace them. This of course, drives out the remaining residents and so all of the older houses get demolished.

Old and I do mean old, like the OPs house, are worth continued work and restoration if kept in reasonable condition. I have a friend that just last fall moved into her grandmothers old house, it was built just before the War Between the States. (and Sherman bypassed the area so it still stands). The house still needs lots of work, but is livable. She had new sheathing and roof put on and new windows installed in the old frames, before she moved in. The house has been empty since the '70's but was reasonably maintained and had the electrical completely redone in the mid '90's. She had it insulated top bottom and sides before she moved in also, and I replaced all of the plumbing for her. She had a guy build a nice tile shower in her 42 inch by 10 ft bathroom. We moved a lot of junk when she sold the farm, and she is trying to get rid of it as much as possible. Its not much but a place to live, and reminds her of her childhood at grandmas house, so it was worth it.

One large two story plantation house here was taken down to the bare frame, carefully leveled and completely rebuilt. It was just beams and studs after they stripped it bare.

I too sometimes wonder where do you stop, but different strokes for different folks, so more power to the OP for saving the old place.
 
Understandably true if you have a quality constructed older home that still has a good base
and bones to start with.
 
Jam saws are for cutting baseboard molding - or actaully door jams - so you can fit flooring material underneath
without removing the door/baseboard.

I think what you're trying to do is use it 90 degrees from its intended design. You're probably going to scrape
up your baseboard molding doing that - but more importantly: is that what you really want to do?

I'm thinking it'd be better to just pull the baseboard molding off - then remove the osb - put in your new floor
- then redo the molding so it fits properly.
 

Thanks, a jamb saw was what I was searching for, although the oscillating saw might be the ticket for this job. The original floor is definitely salvageable. We've got 95% of it uncovered now and it's actually in good shape. There is a little damage here and there that will be a bear to fix, but far less expensive that laying a new floor.

The molding is already off, I just need to cut flush with the newer partitions we don't want to remove.
 
meant to say a "toe kick" saw is I think what you want, but doesn't look like an angle grinder.

But again - is that really what you want to do?
 
Buy the higher priced HF oscillating saw. The cheap one will run so hot it will burn your hand. I have the higher priced one. Works fine, but you have to tighten the main screw real tight or it will loosen when used. I think probably all of the oscillating saws are the same way - tighten that main screw really tight.
 
(quoted from post at 13:58:59 08/11/15) meant to say a "toe kick" saw is I think what you want, but doesn't look like an angle grinder.

But again - is that really what you want to do?

Yes, I want to cut the OSB they ran under the partitions they put in over the OSB as close to flush with the sheetrock as I can. The molding is off already. I'm not sure I understand why I wouldn't want to do that.
 
strange (this is how people lose digits) kind of thought here -

but I was thinking. Can you extend the blade all the way down on your skill saw - put it at a 45 degree angle - use some blocking, maybe double sided taped under the foot plate to hold the saw up level, but a few inches off the floor so that only the very bottom of the blade cuts the osb close to the wall... ?

Call me cheap, but I might try something like that before spending a lot of money on a tool I don't really need.
(IF you don't really need one).
 
I'm always amused by what passes for "old" in different parts of the country. Our house (in Massachusetts) is from 1906 and that's too new for the local Historical Commission to list as a historic house. "Old" here is the family a mile down the road who built a house in 1705 and the direct descendants still run the farm. But they're total newcomers compared to a dairy farm I know in Connecticut that has been in the same family since 1639.
 
That is strange. If the old floor was in good condition I'm wondering what the reason for the OSB was. Usually when they install carpet they just put down a tack strip and lay carpet right over the old floor. The OSB would have been extra trouble and expense for nothing.
 
This is the best thing for that type of job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8KA_y9SuW8

Used one to cut tile underlay away from kitchen cabinets . I thought it would be a tool to use once , but I have used it for countless other things since . Very versatile and effective , cuts about anything you would want to .
 
You don't want a Jamb saw, you want an Oscillating Multitool. I never really though I'd need one until I redid the
hardwood floor in my mom's house this winter. Similar situation, new walls/cabinets had been built over the existing
flooring. Borrowed one from a Buddy. Pretty great invention!!

Ben
Multitool
 
(quoted from post at 18:13:29 08/11/15) That is strange. If the old floor was in good condition I'm wondering what the reason for the OSB was. Usually when they install carpet they just put down a tack strip and lay carpet right over the old floor. The OSB would have been extra trouble and expense for nothing.

The guy we bought the house from was a type A know it all. He told us he'd "super insulated" the house when he gutted it. I thought he meant 10" walls, 2 foot of insulation in the attic, well sealed windows. Nope. He shoved 6" insulation in a 4" wall cavity, put nothing in the attic and taped the windows shut. I found junction boxes with 2 bare wires twisted together one one side and 2 bare wires twisted together on the other side! Not a wire nut or even tape to be found. The list of dumb moves is endless. So in answer to why he put down OSB over the floor? Because it was easier, faster and cheaper than fixing the damage the floor had. Same reason that he shoved rocks under the floor boards rather than supporting the floor joists properly. I'm no home building expert, but I've been around enough construction projects to know stupidity when I see it. Of course if I'd been more concerned with the house and less with the barn and acreage when we were buying I might have noticed more of this, so shame on me.

There are several holes from a prior hot air furnace duct system and one spot of fire damage on the original floor. I need maybe 30 feet of matching flooring to fix it all. Should be able to get that from the present kitchen area which will become a tiled entrance way. So that's why and what we're doing. There wasn't a bit of carpet anywhere in the house. He put cheap parquet flooring over the OSB and never left any expansion gaps. Buckled flooring everywhere. Like I said, the list is endless.
 
(quoted from post at 00:52:32 08/12/15) You don't want a Jamb saw, you want an Oscillating Multitool. I never really though I'd need one until I redid the
hardwood floor in my mom's house this winter. Similar situation, new walls/cabinets had been built over the existing
flooring. Borrowed one from a Buddy. Pretty great invention!!

Ben
Multitool

I think you're right. I'm going to look at whats available. Thanks!
 
Yup, oscillating multi-tool. Buy a higher quality one, Bret, if you have a lot of work for it. My son had a cheaper one and he burned it out with heavy use. I have a Rigid and it seems to hold up quite well for hard use. My son bought a Rigid, too. So far it has held up to some heavy use.
 
Good information about the cheap HF version running so hot. That was certainly my experience last week when I was using mine to clean grout joints on a tiled floor. I used a worn out blade to make a stiff brush attachment, as per a You Tube video I watched. It worked better than anything else I tried, but overheated in just a couple of minutes. By the way, if you're interested in a long list of tile grout cleaning products and methods that don't work, I've got that information.

Stan
 
Ha, I see that stuff all the time. I repair and remodel homes for a living. Nothing beats one house I saw where someone had the bright idea of using saw dust to insulate their attic. I had to replace an electric wire up there where someone pulled an aluminum wire tighter than a banjo string for a cook stove and the house shifted and it broke somewhere in the middle. What was really disturbing was they bypassed the breaker box and wired it directly to the meter base.

About your 30 feet of floor if you are patient I think you could match the finish on new flooring. For any of us it just takes a lot of tinkering to match a color. Most folks buy a can or two of stain and if it doesn't match they give up.
 

Well, I took a trip to Lowes and bought the Rockwell oscillating tool. Works great! Thanks for the advice guys!

As far as the flooring, there's no finish to match. The floor as it stands is a pine or fir tongue and groove over a wide plank subfloor. There's varnish, paint, some left over linoleum and backing and bare wood across the floor. It's all going to have to be sanded down so matching color won't be much of an issue. We'll have more issues inserting boards to replace the fire damage (maybe a foot square total- looks like someone forgot to put up the fireplace screen one night back when the fireplace was still here.) and fixing the ductwork holes.
 

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