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The home I just bought has wonderful fir floors throughout it. The only problem is that in the bedrooms, there is old linoleum flooring stuck directly to the fir. Does anyone have any experience removing this in a way that won’t hurt the flooring underneath? I’ve thought about using a heat gun or an iron to loosen each tile individually, but this would take a long time.
Thanks,
Hal
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Hal,
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*Hal, first thing you need to know is how old is the tile floor? If it goes back beyond a certin year, then it could an asbestos containing product. Other than that, heat one peice and lift it up. Black glue is asphalt based adhesive. Let us know what you find out.Dave
*I've done this. It's no fun, but here's what I learned. You'll have to experiment. Some stuff will work, others will not. Try scraping with and without heat. I chose to not use the heat gun though it was slower. I always just end up burning myself with the freaking thing. Sandvik sells carbide tipped paint scrapers that helped me alot. The really stiff putty knives are good too. Sometime water will soften spme stuff. If the floor is old, feeping it moderately wet with a sprayer is a good idea anyway becaruse of the asbestos issue. If it's real linoleum (sheet goods) it shouldn't be too hard to rip up, but a lot of the backing will remain. If it's composition (squares) it will be harder. The tiles may have gotten brittle enough to aid removal. Some damage to the floor in inevitable, bur the idea is to minimize it. Besides, an ols house should look like an old house.For what it's worth,Mike the idiot DIY guy
*Hal,Scrape what you can. Then rent a drum floor sander -- they are not that much, some extra course paper along with a medium one and a floor edger. Put some plastic over the doorway, a particle mask on and do it to it. Even the coarsest paper will load up quickly. Those rubbery belt dressing sticks that they sell for woodworking will help. When it gets so it is doing more smoking than cutting, put on a new one (have many extras and simply return what you don't use) and keep after it. Most all the dust will end up in the attatched bag and it is not as bad as you may think. It will all be over that day. After all, you have to get that monster back to the rental place. A few notes: Remove the baseboards before starting. If you pull out the plug or pop a breaker while running, SHUT OFF that switch right now or you could be carrying the damn thing out from your basement before you can get back from the breaker box. You'll notice that the drum has a slight taper. This will allow to lap smoothly over the last pass with a ridge line. If you control your direction of lap accordingly, you can get it perfect. if not you can still do a decent job. Just tilt it back and lower it smoothly while rolling. One onceover with the medium is most likely enough to let you apply your optional stain and first coat of varnish. Thin it way down if it's an oil base so it soaks in. I don't know if you can do that with that water base stuff. I had a nightmare with that stuff when it first came out. I'm sure that it's much better now. I heard that water based interior latex paint was also terrible. Now it is wonderful -- doesn't drip, dries evenly. self levels, doesn't even smell bad. Good old gym floor varnish if you can still get it is great with those old fir floors. 3 coats are minimum. Sand afer that first coat cause the grain is going to raise and it will be rather rough. It really won'r take much, however and you can get the job done even by hand with a couple of green scotchbrite pads and 10 or 15 minutes of work. Varnish can be applied with a roller and a extension handle -- quick and easy. Initial cleaning and between coats cleaning is very important. vacuum like crazy and a quick rubdown with a solvent dampened lint free rag isn't a bad idea.Good Building,Jim Malone
*I've read that dry ice will sometimes pop 'em up.Bear in mind, the linoleum tiles probably contain asbestos (as Dave noted) and the mastic might.Don't do it. Sanding is about the worst thing you can do to an asbsetos based material. If you do:Use a good dust mask (rubber, with cartridges rated for asbestos), do everything possible to keep dust out of the rest of the house (seal doorways and forced air registers; don't wear work clothes into the house; enter and exit through windows; use a HEPA vac for cleanup), don't call me if you get asbestiosis.
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The home I just bought has wonderful fir floors throughout it. The only problem is that in the bedrooms, there is old linoleum flooring stuck directly to the fir. Does anyone have any experience removing this in a way that won't hurt the flooring underneath? I've thought about using a heat gun or an iron to loosen each tile individually, but this would take a long time.
Thanks,
Hal