Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Do I need to remove these staples or just bang them flush?

I'm tearing up some old engineered flooring to replace with a new floating engineered floor and these @#$%#! staples are really starting to get to my soon-to-be-arthritic hands using this bear claw. Can they be hammered flush to the plywood instead? It would definitely be a lot more fun! My hands thank you in advance for your advice.

I think the answers given before are (in order)


1. Yes you should pull them out. Use wire cutters .

1. (again) Don't worry about them, pound 'em flat.

1. (yet again) Use a floor scraper over the whole floor and the staples will mostly come right out, leaving just a few to pull by hand or pound flat.

I think the last worked great for someone with a very similar question. It may have been regular staples for tar paper that he was asking about though.

Personally, I'd pull them out using whatever method was required.

Thank you, Gunguy45.

I've been searching all over for this answer, but I can only seem to find answers regarding staples on uncovered hardwood, which is obvious. My instinct says that if the new floor is floating that it wouldn't be so much an issue (as opposed, to say, sheet vinyl). I'm not sure what makes these so much harder to get out (I've pulled up carpet and other materials attached to wood before), but they're really a beast to pull out of the floor, even with the bear claw. My husband worked on some of them last night. Unless he feels like coming home and yanking more out, I think we'll end up pounding them down.