Please, whatever you do...DO NOT wet that particle board!!! You're just asking for even more trouble and a very large mess (and not the fun "mess" either ) Done some of this before, just have to do it the hard way. You will have to refinish the hardwood anyways so...just don't put any deep scratches or marks in it as best you can.

Thanks ya'all. I'll be working away on this coming weekend on this...and as you can imagine, I'm anxious to haul out all that wall to wall 35 year old orange shag!

Just priced wonder bars at lowes, about 14 bucks and up, gonna pick one up this weekend....anything to make the job easier, and I'm gratefull that nails and underlayment are all I'm dealing with in this room, the kitchen carpet was glued down to the hardwood, and I'm still looking at that glue residue!

I sure could use some advice....I'm ripping up an old 70's orange shag from the living room, there are hardwoods underneath...but here's the thing...first the carpet, no problem, lifts right up, then the padding, no problem but the padding is stapled to a particle/plywood type of underlayment, that underlayment is nailed down, and with lots of nails, I don't mind pulling all the nails cuz the hardwood is in good condition underneath, it's just getting the underlayment removed...so..since the underlayment is particle board, would wetting it down good with water help break it up and be easier to remove around the nails and leaving them to pull up later? Otherwise, it looks like just crowbaring, scraping it out in little hard bits, and this could cause further damage to the hard wood...

I've asked a floor refinsher, and he said to use some sort of adhesive remover and be prepared for a butt load of scraping and cleaning...haven't even attempted to try it yet!