Saving and reusing a hardwood floor

Question:  Hi Jake 18mths ago we had an oak floor installed over a concrete base. We now have real problems with the wood expanding and the floor rising. Having taken part of the floor up I can see the insulation between floor and concrete is, to say the least not sealed. I will have to take up the whole floor. The tongue and groove floor boards were glued together (only lengthways it seems). What tools/methods can you recommend to take up the wood to give the best chance of it being reusable? Regards Paul

Jake's answer:  Paul, I would do a moisture test on the floor prior to resetting your wood floor.  You can do this by tightly taping a piece of plastic over the floor, about a 1 square foot area, and leave it there for 48 hours or so.  At that time you can see if  you have trapped any moisture that may be migrating up through the concrete.  If there is moisture, you should tackle that problem before resetting the floor.  As far as how to remove the flooring with the glued tongues - now that is a good question.  We do not install our floors that way.  If the glue did its job, trying to pull the boards apart most likely will result in the tongues splitting out.  Depending on what type of glue you used, you might try to find a solvent that will dissolve the glue.  Good luck.