Removing Old Flooring Surfaces

Insert a floor scraper or wide putty knife under the sheet at a corner and pry it up. Work down each strip of the material, rolling the strip as you go. Use a hair dryer to soften the adhesive. Spray adhesive remover, let it work, and scrape the residue from the floor.

Crack one tile with a small sledgehammer and cold chisel to make a starting point in the middle of the floor. Break out the remaining area and chip out the grout along the edge of an adjacent tile. Tap a wide chisel under the edge of the tiles and pop them off the floor.

Warm the adhesive with a heat gun. If you don't have a heat gun, use a hair dryer set on high heat. Warm a corner first, insert a floor scraper or wide putty knife, and with the heat on lift up the tile. Scrape the adhesive from the floor with a floor scraper.

Grab a corner of the carpet with groove-joint pliers and pull it off the tack strips. Pull it off the entire floor. Cut the pad into strips with a utility knife and pull the strips from the floor. Work a pry bar under the tacking strips and pry loose.

Use a hammer to punch a hole in the drywall between the studs. (If the surface is tiled, it may help to first shatter one or two tiles in the center of the wall.) Enlarge the hole until you can put your hand or the end of a pry bar into it.

Grab an edge of the hole you made and pull off the drywall. To remove large sections space your hands as far apart as possible. Use a pry bar if necessary. Pull the remaining nails. Check for rot and mold.

With a reciprocating saw cut through the nails between the bottom of the stud and the plate. Use a metal-cutting blade.

Knock the bottom of the stud sideways with a hammer to free the bottom. With the bottom loose, twist and lever the stud free of the nails that hold it to the top plate. Remove the nails as you go.