I have salvaged quite a lot of hardwood flooring for reuse. It is definitely a task for those with more time than money or a desire for a unique product. My kitchen floor is salvaged quartersawn oak and every single piece is full width. The only comparable products on the open market have a much higher price tag than I am willing to pay in cash. So, I pay in time and effort instead. Installing reclaimed flooring is also more challenging as many boards had an end cut off when originally installed. It is possible to set up a router and recut the ends but we just use those pieces against a wall in the new install.

When getting material from a demo sale, the logistics are challenging. Removing flooring takes a crew of at least two people but preferably more and the space to handle the product. Most demo projects have a limited time window and you need to be well organized to be able to get enough quantity to be practical. There is a lot of handling involved and the usual time frame requires you to move the product with nails in place and remove them elsewhere.

I would not touch a product that had been face nailed. Why go to all the effort of putting in flooring that already has nail holes? Tongue and groove flooring is usually not a problem to remove as long as you remove it starting with the last piece installed and work backwards. The trick is to let the interlocking tongue and groove part help lift the adjoining pieces, loosening the entire row then going back to remove the pieces. Using too much force will damage the product and make it very difficult to reinstall. Only once have I walked away from a beautiful floor because the installation made it too difficult to remove. That floor was only a few years old and the cleats were driven too deep and placed too close together.

Face nailed strip flooring is only 3/8" thick with square edges. I would not invest in it, unless you need to patch in flooring. You will need to run it through a planer to bring the thickness all the same. Cleaning up the years of build up along the square edges is no easy task either. Unless you have the time, buy new.

Run away!