Will napalm help get up vinyl floor?

jageorge72

Seriously! I am going to tile my floor, and although I understand you CAN go over the vinyl with a certain thinset, I figured it was better to get down to the concrete. Well.... I don't know if the homebuilder used some NASA-strength glue or what, but this is torture.

The top layer came off fairly easily, then I scraped a white layer off. Around the edges.... maybe a foot from the wall.... it is down to the glue and concrete. But the rest of the floor has this grey/cardboard-like layer that is really stuck.

So questions:

1. Considering how stuck down this layer is.... any chance I could tile over it with a quality thinset? I made a couple calls, and one installer said it was no problem to go over it. Would something bad happen?

2. If this stuff really needs to come up..... are there any chemicals I can use? What is the best way to do this? I was working with a 4" hand scraper from Lowes, and barely got anywhere in like an hour. I don't want to spend 30 hours scraping up this floor.

Thanks!

Limit54

to get off vinyl flooring you need to use a torch and heat up the tile so the glue under the tile starts to get gooey. then you scrap it of with a wide putty knife or scraper. Remember you are heating up the tile in all areas not melting it.

It sucks and you have to go tile by tile. That will do the job though.

jageorge72

By the way.... they are not tiles. It is either sheet vinyl or linoleum.... not sure of the difference.

Limit54

Blow torch. heat up the glue underneath. Rip the stuff off. Done.

rusty baker

Flame-thrower or C-4 explosive.

__________________
"I'm twisted, not sick. Sick implies, I'll get better"
Semi-Retired Installer
Installing since 1973

tribe_fan

I have used an iron over a damp towel - less smoke.

jageorge72

I was actually thinking about putting down a couple beach towels, then pouring boiling water on them & letting them sit for a while. The iron is a good idea! Don't have a blow torch.

jlhaslip

Had a job removing glue down carpet. The crew took forever to remove a small strip of it.
I poured a 5 gal pail of hot water on it and sent them outside for a smoke break. The rest of the room came up real easy.
Many glues are heat activated. Heat will release the bond and after it cools back down, use scrapers to lift the balance.

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LoneStarGuitar

I rented a machine from Lowes a couple years ago when I ripped up the linoleum in my kitchen, main bathroom and hallways..
Spent a few hours at first with scrapers, then got smart and threw horsepower at it.. Best 50 bucks I have spent!
The machine looks somewhat like a carpet shampooer, but has a blade on the front. Alternatively, you can also find blades that fit on a sawzall that are scrapers.

FrankL

If you decided to go over it with a skim coat of thinset, make sure you put bonding agent in the mix.

Frank Lardino

jageorge72

I actually ended up finishing the kitchen with my 4" scraper. I did use the beach towel/hot water method, and it did help. The vinyl in the bathrooms came up with almost no effort at all! So.... very close to doing the tile. Thanks for the advice so far.