I am about to begin installing 300+ sq. ft. of travertine floor tile for a homeowner, for whom I am doing a number of other projects, some major and some minor. In the past, I have performed tiling jobs, walls, countertops, bath ceilings and floors, although tiling is not my exclusive work.
Sheet linoleum is laid on the areas that are to be tiled and it’s delaminated at the seams. Not having begun the process of removal, the material appears to be quite well adhered to the concrete slab elsewhere. I have removed linoleum in prior jobs, in a very inefficient and tiring way, with the use of all sorts of tools, none of which were suited for the purpose.
My question is: have you used or know of a tool that will expedite the removal of this material? Eternally grateful, Zbalk.
Replies
This, I've done. Go to your rental store. There is a machine with a flat, oscillating blade that makes pretty quick work of linoleum.
Andy
Arguing with a Breaktimer is like mud-wrestling a pig -- Sooner or later you find out the pig loves it.
With my hand grinder I sharpen the edge of a square shovel and just push it along the floor.
Definitely try the sharpened shovel. Also try water on the crud that's left. A lot of early lino adhesives were water soluable. Water also keeps the dust down, important if there's asbestos in the material.
-- J.S.
I've never done it, but it seems a sharpened ice spud would work. Works on ice.
rent the machine.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Thanks to everyone. I like the idea of the machine.
Theres a big push machine.Like a giant lawn mower.
Its veryyyyyyyyy loud.has chisel blades under it.
It'll rip right through it but you may need help carrying it in and out of your truck and into the house.
My life is my passion!
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Pulling up old vinyl flooring sucks. I think it calls for a combination of methods. The shovel/scraper is a good start for the largest portion of it, but I'm sure you'll be left with patches of stuck on crud. I found that a Fein multi-master with a scraper blade is awesome for this. But, it's astonishgly loud (use plugs!). Also, there's some stipper gels that make pretty short work of the glue residue (but the fumes'll kill you dead, so use ventilation and a mask). I don't envy you this job.
Thanks peterz for the Fein tool suggestion. I'll try it. I hadn't either run across the gel for removing the crud and leftover patches; that's probably the part I hate worst. Thanks again. Zbalk
Don't know if you have one of those Fein tools or not. They're not quite cheap, around $160 new. But, the first time you spend 1/2 hour with it scraping up crud (vinyl floor, caulk, paint, whatever) rather than 8 hours with a putty knife, you'll go... THANK YOU GERMAN ENGINEERS!
Definitely go with the rental machine. It carries a removable 60 pound weight to give it traction and some real umph. I've rented it twice and it does an awsome job. You'll be surprised how fast it is.
don't get me wrong, i love my fein, but with 300sf it would be absurdly tedious and inefficient. rent the scraper machine, and while you're there rent a couple humans to help carry it. buy the multimaster. the only complaint i have about it is the availability and cost of blades.