Vinyl Floor Removal Is Not As Difficult As You May Think.

Vinyl floor removal is actually quite easy but it sure is a lot of work. Once you get the vinyl flooring up there will be quite a bit of the backing left firmly attached to the sub-floor. Is this a problem? Not really but that's when the hard work kicks in. There will be many hours (depending on the actual floor size of course) of scraping and sweeping to remove the rest of the flooring that remains.

*Please Note*
Most flooring installed prior to 1980 has some asbestos in either the flooring itself, the backing, and/or the adhesive. A simple test from an approved laboratory can determine if asbestos is present. If asbestos is present then it may be a good idea to hire an asbestos abatement company to remove the flooring.

Asbestos is very harmful when inhaled. When the floor is still in place the danger is at a minimum but once the flooring is disturbed the asbestos then becomes airborne and can be inhaled. Plus once the flooring is removed it has to disposed of properly, according to Federal Regulations. Disposal fees can be very steep depending on the area in which you live.

If asbestos is present then you may choose to simply apply a Luan sub-floor over the existing vinyl and install your new floor over top of that. This way you will not have to deal with the extra cost of the removal. This is of course your decision and also the decision of your local gov't. So please do your own research to find out what would be best for you.

There are three different ways the vinyl is glued to the floor. Sheet flooring can be: edge glued, only the outer 4 to 5 inches of flooring is glued down, or full field glued, the entire floor is glued down. With vinyl tiles they are either self stick or full field glued. With any luck you find your floor is edge glued, because the work will be much less.

Now on to the actual vinyl floor removal:

The process is the same for vinyl sheet flooring as it is for vinyl tile flooring. After you determine the flooring is safe to remove yourself, the first step is to remove all of the moldings and any other material that would hinder the vinyl floor removal, such as appliances. After this is done you can proceed to the next step.

The next step is begin tearing out the old flooring. The best way to start doing this is to start in a corner and work your way out. If the flooring is full field glued a floor scraper will help the removing of the vinyl flooring. The floor scraper will get most of the backing as well as the floor itself. For $40 a flooring scraper is a great investment, it will definitely save your back. Be sure to get a heavy duty, quality, scraper because a flimsy, cheap scraper will do little to no good.
If you have a flooring scraper simply get under the floor and the cutting edge of the scraper will do most of the work. Most scrapers can also be sharpened to keep the cutting edge working at its best.

Once the majority of the floor is removed and taken out of the area you can begin removing what remains. There will always be some of the backing remaining so don't worry about it when you're removing the majority of the floor. Simply go back with a sharpened floor scraper and remove what was left. Just be careful not to gouge the sub-flooring as this will lead to more work later on. If the sub-floor is gouged you will need to fill them in with floor leveler.

Once all of the remaining backing is removed you should go ahead and sweep it very well, or better yet use a vacuum to get all of what remains. Then give it a once over just to be sure nothing remains. If there are some stubborn areas you can use an adhesive remover to get the rest of it but scraping will probably work the best.

That's pretty much it when it comes to vinyl floor removal. Before you install your new floor there are steps required, prior to the laying of the new floor. It depends on what you're putting back down.

The process of vinyl floor removal is quite simple, just get it off of the sub-floor, but the amount of elbow work required is quite a bit. Plan on spending an entire day, or weekend, removing the floor. You will be sore and your knees will hurt but you will save yourself some money.

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