I need flooring residue removal help quick!!?
Question:This is an old house and I wanted to update the bathroom flooring.
Ok well I made the mistake of taking off the linolium, and it left me with a heck of a mess.
Now there is glue residue on there, some cement I guess they had used for leveling.. then under all that there is some hardwood flooring.. my plan is to get to the hardwood so I can lay down my new tiles on an even floor..
Right now there are grooves and lumps everywhere..
I am scraping it off and noticed it comes off easier with a bit of water..
Now what I would need to know... have you any faster ways of getting this stuff off?
I don't want to lay down luan (thin plywood) so that is out and I don't want to use leveling cement either..
What I need is advice on how to make this mess easier to take off without killing my arms from srubbing and scraping lol
Any ideas anyone?
No harsh chemicals, as I have allergies and cats..
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I am tired... thank god that room is small...hahah
Answers:
We just rebuilt our home. Including removing linoleum in 3 bathrooms and a kitchen, and restoring the hardwood underneath. Removing the vinyl glue from the hardwood took a lot of hard work and muscles!! First, see if you can simply pull the vinly off of the floor. If it's been down for a while, the adhesive may have lost some of it's gripping power and the flooring may just come off (with some grunting and groaning). If this doesn't work, start at one edge, we used Varsol or paint thinner and a rag. I took the solvent to the rag and applied it to the back of the vinly between the hardwood floor. This will dissolve the adhesive without damaging the hardwood floor. This method will work. However, it may take hours and hours and hours of work to get the flooring off. Our floors look awesome now!! You dont want to use a machine, because that can gouge the hardwood, and cost more in the long run because you will have to get the floors refinished. best of luck to you.
If you have one of the flat, handled things you use when you wall paper it might be easier to scrape the stuff off of the floor. Also it you can get under the wood at a corner, perhaps you can just peel the whole thing up that way...good luck!
About the only way you can make the job easier is to rent a power scraper, but scraping is what it's going to take.
If your subfloor, or whatever level you attach the new flooring to is not flat, you will have to use a leveling cement. You will experience varying levels of disappointment in your new floor if you don't make the subfloor level. Anywhere from "looking like crap" to replacing damaged portions. Why throw good money after bad. Do the job right the first time and save yourself the frustration of re-doing it.
This is a real fix if it were me I would either floorstone the entire area(thin concrete layer)or cover it all up with what you said you dont want 1/4" plywood it is the only time saving half way easy on the body options.
Yep, hard work!
If you need more information on flooring you can visit http://flooring-solution.com
Have Fun,
Tom
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