How can I remove laminate flooring from an oddly shaped hallway without destroying it?

Question

I have a locking laminate floor that runs continuously through two large rooms and down a narrow hallway. The boards run length-wise down the hallway, and through the large room--the hallway "rows" are 40' long in total--20' in the hallway, 20' in the large room. When looking at the overall floor the hallway is in the middle of the rows.

The hallway flooring suffered some water damage along one side. I need to remove it, replace the padding underneath, and replace the laminate portions which are warped.

Here's a rough diagram of the full floor. Each "|" represents a laminate piece--there are no transitions. In reality the pieces are staggered.

   ||| < this is the hallway flooring
   |||
   ||| |||||
   ||| |||||
||||||||||||
||||||||||
||||||||
||||||||

And here's a photo of the hallway. The sections I need to remove and replace are outlined.

My question is how to remove the flooring from just the hallway. Ideally I'd be able to remove it non-destructively and leave the main floor undisturbed so that I can reinstall the hallway flooring.

I understand I'll need to cut some of the pieces to remove them at the junction of the two rooms, but will I be able to reinstall new pieces using the locking mechanism--or will the only option be to trim and glue in the pieces at the junction of the rooms?

Any advice, tips, our thoughts would be appreciated!

Answer 1

The rule of thumb is, "last pieces down are the first and easiest to remove". If the hallway was the last to be laid, it will be an easy pull. That would be the first that needs to pull up. Remove the shoe mold, remove the damaged flooring, you may need to remove some that is not damaged to easily remove it all. Once you see how the first few pieces come up the rest will be easy. It will only be easy to remove in a given direction only. If the room to the right was done last then the removal will need to start with a saw cut at the opening. The replacement may take a glued joint or transition strip to change the direction of the "lay" of the floor.