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removing sheet vinyl flooring

11 years ago

We are having new ceramic tile installed in our kitchen,dining, laundry and bathroom next week. We have removed the carpet, and now need to remove the sheet vinyl. Surely, someone has done this. We would appreciate any tips to complete this task.

I have also posted in the flooring forum.

Thanks!!

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Comments (10)

gdeann
11 years ago
We just did this! We found by cutting the vinyl in strips with a razor, we could get a putty knife wedged under a piece and then pull with our hands using pliers. We were stuck with glue underneath but it was okay for the type of flooring wewent with. Good luck!!!!
angie_diy
11 years ago
If there is a thin underlayment, you can remove this, too, if you wish. It may be, for example, 5 mm thick luan plywood. This will likely be stapled down in a million places. You can set your circular saw to be the depth that will just barely cut though the underlayment. Then cut a grid into the floor, about 1.5 ft. on a side. You can then pull up the underlayment and vinyl in one piece. You then need to pull the staples out by hand with a pair of pliers.

Look at youtube videos for "removing vinyl floor" or "removing linoleum floor."

Do you know how old the floor is? If there is any chance of asbestos, which was commonly used in vinyl tile and mastic, you should learn how to deal with it or have a pro do it.
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Go to a local big box home center and buy a flooring razor scraper and alot of blades. use extreme caution while using this and changing the blades as they are razorsharp. If it is really tough, wet it down a little. Scrape with your one hand on the handle and the other hand pressing down firmly and forward near the base. Push down and forward with both hands at the same time. Back and forth over and over. I do not recommend the use of chemicals as they could react with new products and adhesives unless proper cleaning and possibly neutralizing efforts are made afterwards.
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Amen, Glenn. I started when I was 12 helping Dad on weekends and evenings when Mom worked. At 15, I helped during evening weekends, and summer vacations (and getting paid!) when he went out on his own. At 17, I went to the Armstong School of Resilient Installation to learn all that I could, which was before certifications. They confirmed shool completions back then but didnt "certify" as they do now. All my life I have been taught on the job and Dad pulled me aside when other co-workers and his bosses did things inappropriately to save time and cut corners, telling me this isnt the way you should do this, but we do what we have to when we work for someone else. Every facet from pattern scribing inlaid resilient sheet in a room full of pipes and old radiators, all the way down to professionally and expertly installing vinyl/rubber cover base corners. Nothing was too big or too small to do right. At 21, me and Dad had a falling out in business. He had his own busienss now doign commercial and residential subcontract work and was becomming like so many others we laughed at and despised for doing shoddy work to make a buck, then I went out on my own. I am not maligning my Father. I love Him and he taught me pretty much evrything I know, but I couldnt do the work he was asking me to do anylonger when I knew it wasnt right. He had changed. Business had changed him. Money and time was becomming more important that job quality. Business certainly isnt easy, but a time comes when it's either right or its wrong, with little middle ground. Whhen professionals hit that crossroad, then take the wrong path, it changes them, and each time they elect that improper path, it makes the next crossroads easier and easier to take the wrong path, until the day comes that money and time means more than giving people who trust use with their work a professional job. I am an advocate of installer and buiness educataion no matter how they go about obtaining it, whether that be on the job, through a mentorship, union apprentiship, manufacturer or distributor training session, or certification. If certifications are the only way they can get proper training, they shoud go get it. Consumers need to step up and make a fuss when anything isnt exactly how they want it to be. We live in a low cost wallmart and home depot world, where as long as the price is right, they can live with almost anything. As an employer, I instill in my men and women the same installation and customer service values my Dad originally instilled in me, and I demand that on every job. I believe much of the talent has moved to the commercial spectrum too. Its where the money is at. Interesting you should say that (about commercial work getting the good men). When I left Dad, I went all commercial for about 10-11 years before we started opening up stores. Did alot of traveling and made alot of money. Now we bring those values and quality to the residential sector. In the end if something isnt done right, it doesnt matter why.
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"....it's only 16 years old". Hmmmm. Is this sheet vinyl, vinyl tiles or first generation vinyl planks? At 16 years old, I would say your floor has hit the end of the road. Certain situations in the home environment will reduce the longevity of a floor. Some of it has to do with environmental controls. Some of it has to do with the material chosen. Some of it has to do with the type of install (full spread glue down vs. perimeter glue down). And some of it has to do with the subfloor....other issues might have to do with maintenance (cleaning schedule and materials used). If you add up all the "little" things that reduce the life of a floor, you can achieve a floor that has "died" 10 years before it "should". Many floors have a 20 - 25 year life span. Some vinyls used to have a 15 - 20 year life span. It all depends on what you started out with. I would say it is time to have it all dealt with...right now. If you want to keep the bathroom and the cupboards to save yourself $200 - $500, then feel free to keep 16 year old vinyl that will fail in the next 5-10 years. As for floor heights regarding the carpet, only you can decide what you want to do. It sounds like the vinyl was raised so that it sat at the same height as the carpet. This is common - carpet is often 1/2" or higher where as lino and vinyl are 3mm (1/8") at best. I would say it is time to look at dealing with everything. The product is most likely beyond repair. Even if you repaired it, you would pay several hundreds of dollars just to get another 3-5 years out of it. Those hundreds of dollars would go a LONG way in purchasing and installing new flooring. Post photos if you can.
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bwsk
Original Author
11 years ago
I forgot to mention that this is on a concrete slab.

I think the floor is less than 20 years old.

I guess we're in for a tedious task--not unlike stripping wallpaper (we've done a lot of that too)
angie_diy
11 years ago
I have not tried these myself, but they make scraper blades for a reciprocating saw now. May just do the trick:

Here is a link that might be useful: Spyder scraper
hags00
11 years ago
Doing this right now - 4 hours yesterday!! Mine is not coming up easily. Mine is on a slab and I am finding some areas I can get up in decent size pieces (up to 1 ft by 2 ft), others there seems to be so much more adhesive and I am down on the floor with a hammer and nice sharp wide wood chisel turned upside down.

I have a hand tool like the attachment on the photo above and I bent the heck out of it working on my floor and slab so I switched to a wood chisel.

I go after everything first with the long handled scrapper (bully tool) and then I get down on the floor and chisel up what won't come up.

Then I am wetting the slab, letting it sit for a bit and doing another scrape of the left over adhesive. You will want to do this step because if it comes up with water, it will loosen with your water based thinset for the tile and you could have some areas where your tile doesn't adhere well to the slab.

It is a lot like removing wallpaper on my slab!! And takes a lot of elbow grease (as well as a bruised left hand from getting tired and missing with the hammer on the chisel!!)

I have heard you can heat it with a heat gun to loosen the adhesive and then pull it up easier. I opted not to do that because I really didn't want to worry about fumes from heated vinyl/adhesive.
ghostlyvision
11 years ago
That spyder scraper looks like the perfect tool for that kind of job!
lazy_gardens
11 years ago
Have you tried softening it with a heat gun?
bwsk
Original Author
11 years ago
Update--
We rented a power floor scraper. It worked well to remove the top (plastic) layer, and now we are left with a paperlike layer glued to the concrete. Everyone I've spoken to about this project says wet it and scrape with a floor scraper or flat hoe. This is going to take a while......
weedmeister
11 years ago
I would have thought that it would succumb to heat better than water.
bwsk
Original Author
11 years ago
We discovered that my steam mop really helps to loosen the paper/adhesive for easier scraping. We still have quite a task ahead of us....

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