Tips for Removing Vinyl Plank Flooring
plumb_bob
| Posted in General Questions on
Have to remove some glued down vinyl plank flooring, I anticipate this will be tedious and awful. Sub floor is standard spruce T&G plywood.
Any good tips?
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Replies
I haven't done this but probably a glue scraper, which is similar to an ice scraper. Consider renting a wood flooring edge sander or even a drum sander to deal with stuck-on glue.
Most glues will let go if you apply heat from a heat gun.
As a last resort you can freeze the tiles with dry ice that will break the glues bond.
Planks sound like a newer floor but test older tiles and glue for asbestos?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwg6P64rRm0&ab_channel=PeterNguyen
Walta
Often older glues are dissolved by paint thinner, you get a puddle on the floor and work an edge with a scraper. Do it in nice weather when you can have the windows open, the fumes are no joke.
Newer glues seem to be polyurethan based and are pretty impervious, a heat gun will soften them though.
Often it ends up being a fool's errand to try and save the subflooring.
This is a section of floor from my last phase of renovation about 9 years ago that I am tying into a new addition. I have yet to break through and actually see how my new level floor will match up with the old existing floor compared to the reference points I used during construction.
I will try the heat gun, good idea.