Need Help!! How do you get a vinyl floor that has been glued down up so you can put down a new floor??

Question

This flooring is really glued down . I mean really glued!!
I really need some good answers..F A S T !!

There are three layers of vinyl flooring, all
glued down to a wooden sub floor. Lots
and lots of glue. Nothing toxic can be used.

Thanks for all the help.
We ended up cutting it into squares and steaming it loose. Layer by layer. The
hardest job in ten years. Scrapers were
of no help..took it up with a putty knife.

Answer 1

first,take abox cutter knife and cut lines back and forth.then try to pull up whatever you can.Next ,you will have to get a'floor" scraper to scrape the rest.Sometimes heat will help.(heat gun. Good luck! Ron

Answer 2

Don't scrape up the vinyl, that is a waste of time and effort. If it is a small area, say 3' x 3' you can put forth, but still not worth it.

Is there a 1/4" quarter rounding around the base board? If so, remove it. If not, you will have to remove the base board.

Remove the entrance carpet strips. These are metal strips installed along doorways where the floor meets carpet.

After that take a look and see if they used underlayment. Underlayment is a 1/4" 3 or 5 plywood used specifically for this purpose. If so, you can get a flat blade shovel or a roofing shovel (for removing shingles) and pry up the underlayment.

If it is glued right down to the floor without underlayment, just put underlayment right over the old vinyl. It won't hurt anything.

An option, is something they call loose lay. Typical vinyl has what is called a felt backing. I call it cardboard. Well loose lay doesn't have this backing. It is a superior vinyl and usually costs more.

You won't have to glue it down, but should around the edges, CH/A vents and doorways.

Answer 3

How To Remove Vinyl Flooring

Answer 4

Usually a long handled scraper and a lot of elbow grease does the work. For scrapers you can use an ice chopper or a roof scraper (the kind used for scraping off old shingles) or anything else thats handy. There are some chemical strippers available but I would only use them as a last resort. There are also some mechanical floor scrapers you might be able to find at a rental center just be carefull not to damage the subfloor with it.

Answer 5

If it's on concrete, many rental companies rent a machine to remove vinyl flooring. Really more so for VCT (vinyl composition tile).It has a flat blade that moves up and down very quickly and basically chips it into small pieces.

Answer 6

As long as you lay the tiles properly, you will end up w/ a very professional looking floor....always measure and start in the middle, placing tiles outward in even distribution. And be sure to double check the pattern; the backside of each tile will have an arrow on the paper backing, keep all arrows pointing in the same direction. the tiles will stick to the old flooring extremely well, as long as you give that old floor one last very good cleaning w/ a non-residue solution.

Answer 7

Go to Home depot and get a small "handheld" (Master Mechanic) propane burner and a heavy duty scraper with a long handle, heat an area of about 4-tiles at a time and then scrape them off. It's a pain on you know where but that's the only way to do it without killing yourself.

Good luck

Answer 8

you need to cut the floor into 18" squares and get a a floor scraper that takes 4" blades and keep changing those blades as they dull it'll take some time but it's easier then having to breath some chemical and make the hole house stink

flooring expert

Answer 9

If you just laid it down, you look at your bucket of adhesive remover and see what the recommended cleanup is, like paint thinner-maybe- and pour it under the floor and then pull it up slowly. Or you run as fast as you can to the store and buy adhesive remover which is a slow process, but isn't nearly as hard as everyone else seems to say it is.

Answer 10

If it is really down, why do you need it removed? Just apply the new floor over it. To remove it. Lots of determination, lots of hard work. You need a heavy duty scraper.