trouble removing linoleum floor

[uh-oh]

i close on a house tuesday that was built in 1900. uh-oh. upstairs and down have beautiful hardwood floors. The kitchen has 1 layer of sheet linoleum over 1/2in. plywood that was nailed at least twice every foot! below the plywood is 12in. vinyl tile, and finally below this is some sort of black glue over the original heart pine flooring.
what should i use to remove the 12in. tiles and glue? Is this stuff likely to be toxic?


scared but excited[[?]?]

[zeke700]

Okay, get this: I tried adhesive remover, paint stripper, a bit of oil, (with no luck at all) and then I read this posting. Boiling water removed the adhesive like a dream, and the awful cardboard stuck to it came up much easier. I also learned to be a bit more aggressive about scraping, as I was previously afraid to gouge the floor. I then tried the boiling water trick on some lino still attached to the floor, and it scraped up with the floor scraper much easier as well. Looks like this project will go much smoother, so I'm on to the next 1000 square feet. I even picked up some krud kutter that I haven't used yet but might mix with the water for some extra help. Thanks!

[jnowlin]

I just acquired a condo in a building bilt in the 1920's. it was previously a printing warehouse that had noting but concrete floors. I was converted into apts in the 80s and not sure if I should be worried about asbestos or not?? Help, I am trying to remove linooleum flooring from my bathroom but when I pull a bit up to look underneath I cannot tell if there is tile or not, too dirty! My plan is to remove whatever is on top of the concrete. My goal is to use the concrete as my flooring. So I would also need to know how to make it habitable as well! Any suggestions?

[pushkins]

Almost anything built in the 20's runs a very good risk of having some sort of asbestos, especially in old vinyl tiles, make sure you always wear a mask when dealing with old building if you are unsure of the materials inside.

As for the concrete , once you have the tiles removed and as much of the glue removed as well (hard, backbreaking work) have a sandblaster come in and sandblast the concrete floors this will bring them back up to a decent enough finish to take staining or applying polyurethane.

[dkpbxman]

Before I re-floored the utility/boiler room, I had to take up the old worn tiles already there. The easiest way, I found, was to cover the tile with tin foil then heat the area with an ordinary iron. After a couple of minutes, I worked up a corner of the tile and then used a hard-edged "gum-scraper" to force up the rest of the tile.
As stated above, older construction often used asbestos laced vinyl-sheets and tiles- if that's the case, be careful. You might want to just leave the old vinyl there and just cover over it.

[pushkins]

Heat guns will do a nice job as well, use one combined with a 10 in 1 paint scraper, they are less tiresome than "chipping" away at them and less likely to create airborne particles.

[briannarae]

We used an iron. Laid a towel down, run the iron over it til it was really hot. It didnt get it all, but it really helped.