Removing Vinyl Flooring

Removing vinyl flooring is hard work and can even be dangerous if the old flooring is from before the 1970s and contains asbestos. Before work begins, it's best to consider all your options. Do you really have to remove the old floor?

If your old vinyl floor is smooth and securely affixed, it is possible that your new floor can be installed over it. If your existing floor is in pretty good shape with a few bad spots, it can be smoothed with a few patches of Fix It All, then the new floor can be laid directly on top of it. However this may require adding a quarter-inch underlayment of plywood if you plan to install ceramic tile, Pergo or vinyl flooring.

In some instances, the additional height added by the underlayment can become a problem by making a dishwasher too tall to fit under the counter or not allowing a door to close, for example.

If you've decided you must remove your old flooring, how easy the job will be depends on how the floor was originally installed. Installing sheets of vinyl flooring is done in two ways:

• Full bonded: Adhesive was applied to the entire sub-floor before the floor was laid.
• Perimeter bonded: Adhesive was applied only to the edges of the floor and seams, which means the remainder of the floor is not attached to the sub-floor.

As you prepare to remove vinyl flooring, the first step will be to cut the vinyl into manageable strips about six to 12 inches wide. Use a sharp utility knife to cut and a flat putty knife to work underneath the flooring to lift it enough to tear the strips away. Once the surface layer is removed, use a paint scraper to remove the glue. How you remove the adhesive will depend on how old it is and what kind of adhesive was used.

Once you've removed the top layer of the vinyl flooring, you'll be left with the adhesive and remaining backing that stuck to the floor. It's a time-consuming process, but the best way to take off all adhesive and glue is with a stiff wall scraper. However, in some cases scraping the adhesive is not a viable solution.

For stubborn adhesive, it may be necessary to use a chemical stripper. If this is the case, precautions must be taken. Check the labels for warnings because many products include the ingredient methylene chloride, which requires adequate ventilation when applied.

If you do a little research, you will find that there are paint strippers on the market that are more environmentally safe that should work for removing most adhesives. However, these removers will not work as quickly and will add to the length of time it takes to finish your flooring project.

In some cases, if a tar-based adhesive was used, mineral spirits can be applied to soften it before scraping. Another trick that works on some adhesives is a heat gun, which also softens the adhesive as you scrape it with your paint scraper.

You may be tempted to lay your new floor over the old adhesive to save time and back-breaking effort, but it's not a good idea in the long run. There are a number of important reasons why the old adhesive or glue must be removed before installing your new floor:

• Older adhesives contain oils that chemically react with new vinyl, which leads to a yellowish discoloration of your new flooring that isn't covered by most warranties.
• Old adhesives can become brittle and break beneath your new floor.
• Uneven surfaces in your old floor will show up as bumps or cracks in new linoleum.
• Old adhesive may contain asbestos.

Asbestos was used in some old linoleum and flooring adhesives. If your original flooring was laid in the 1970s or before, chances are high that the adhesive used contains asbestos. If this is the case, removing the adhesive creates an additional health risk because asbestos fibers can become airborne.

To have your flooring tested, wet the vinyl as you break off a piece from a corner or out-of-the-way place. Wetting it keeps asbestos from dancing through the air. Take your sample to an asbestos abatement firm (check your local yellow pages).

One last option worth mentioning if you are interested in avoiding the hard work of stripping and scraping is removing vinyl flooring and the sub-floor together. This still requires a lot of work, however.

First you'll need to drill a hole through the floor to figure out the plywood's thickness. Once you have this number, set the saw blade to cut an eighth of an inch deeper, but be careful not to cut floor joists. In order to cut flush to the walls, use a reciprocal saw. Continue to cut the floor into manageable sections and remove it. When you're done, you'll be ready to install a new sub-floor and flooring.

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