I am removing carpeting to have our hardwood floors refinished and the carpet tack strips have hairpin staples in them - lots and lots of them. I've tried pulling them out with pliers and they just break off leaving sharp pieces still in the floor. I've tried prying them out with a screwdriver and they just break in half leaving sharp pieces still in the floor... Is there a magic tool or method that will help remove these little pieces of evil from my floors? Thank you!

Hi, This is my first time doing major DIY home improvement project. I was initially going for porcelain tile for the entire house because i will have a baby soon and worried about spilling water and scratching but some of you in tile forum advised against it so i am going with wood. I have questions: 1. Is it ok to install engineered wood continuous covering large area? In other words, one large floating floor. My biggest concern is shrinking/expansion and i am curious if it would worsen in large area. 2. My house has some portion of the 1st floor with hardwood and other areas covered in carpet. Assuming I can find pattern that matches existing floor, how would i do flat transition from my new wood floor to the existing? 3. My first floor living room has step down (about 5 inches) that split the area into 2. Do I just install stair nose at the edge? 4. During acclamation, do I open the box? I heard that for engineered click lock, it is better to not open until installation to help it expand a little and make lock tighter but i want to confirm. 5. I live in Seattle where it rains a lot. Which one is better? HDF or poplar? 6. I will have a baby in a couple of month and I want to protect the floor from water/milk spills. I know that nothing can save the floor if i let the liquid sit for many hours but is there some seals that i can apply between wood tiles to reduce damage? 7. What is the best underlayment? I don't worry about noise on the first floor but i will need some noise reduction on 2nd floor. 8. I will be moving to this new house in a couple of weeks. We will hire 'we pack & move' movers. Any special instructions I need to give them to make sure they don't scratch my new floor?