Ripping up the subfloor

When we bought Potter Hill, about half of the first floor (kitchen, hallway, TV room) either had these awful vinyl floors, or no flooring whatsoever (just subfloor). This was in STARK contrast to the great room with these gorgeous wide plank pine floors, which were in need of some serious TLC. So while Teresa slaved away at removing ALL of the wallpaper in the house and then priming the walls, I took to the floors.

Based on numerous conversations with Jim Russell (aka Big Jim Russell, El Jefe, Foreman, Satchmo) I was convinced that we had to remove the top layer of subfloor. So one day Paul came over and we played with my new circular saw. Suprisingly, removing 90% of the subfloor was far easier than I expected. I just made tons of shallow cuts and, with the help of several wrecking bars, Paul and I tore up the top layer of floor.
Unfortunately, we still had the perimiter of the floor left. This was the tricky part, right around all of the cabinets, stairs, etc... I traded one Russell brother for the other, and John came over to help with phase II. As is tradition when John, a stolen 46" wrecking bar, and my skull get together, there was an injury. Thankfully, no one was significantly maimed... actually, an unsuspecting pizza guy got in between John's sawzal and the floor, so we had to feed him through the woodchipper, so I really should say that no one I personally know was significantly maimed or killed.

Click on the photos to see additional photos of the fun we had!