Removing floor tiles is HARD WORK!

[jymbee]

The hard vinyl 12" square tiles that were installed over our concrete basement floor now need to be removed for new flooring. Whatever glue was used is proving to be quite a challenge. Best I can do with a hammer & pry bar is to chip off pretty small pieces with each whack-- with quite a bit of effort at that. Using a heat gun helps a lot but that's pretty time consuming-- having to hold the heat in place and work it over each tile for quite some time to soften them up.

I don't expect there's any "trick" to making what looks like a long, arduous job much easier but perhaps someone has found a better way to remove this old flooring?

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I've had luck dissolving the adhesive with paint thinner.

 

[jaxs]

Electric chip hammer(aka small jackhammer)with flat blade will makeum give up their milk.

 

[rswyan]

Rent an electric floor tile remover.

 

[Deere Dude]

My son did his house with a big electric jackhammer with a wide flat shovel type bit.

 

[AWSubie]

A sawzall with a scraper blade might work.

 

[TomSeller]

Electric chip hammer(aka small jackhammer)with flat blade will makeum give up their milk.

I did that once and still had a problem.

 

[two_bit_score]

Local HD rental supply store will have a tile stripper.


Mk Diamond Products Floor Scraper, 1 HP 167676 | Zoro.com

 

[Jim Shooz]

Try a spade.. worked for me

 

[sandman2234]

I was buying some stuff from a guy in Orlando on ebay, and noticed a piece of equipment with no bids, so I stuck a "starter bid" in on it, figuring the electric motor was worth $25.00. Asked the wife, and she said it was ok to bid on it, and that my sister in law was going that way and could pick it up. So I ended up buying it. I got a phone call from the wife a couple days later, asking me if I knew what that machine was called, and I said no. She said it said "The Stripper" all over it. So basically, my wife OK'd me buying a $25.00 stripper, and had my sister in law deliver it.
Darn thing set around here for a couple of years till my Pastor went to remodel his house. I told him I had a $25 stripper he could use, and according to him, it worked really great on ceramic tile floors. Then my Mom called and told me my brother was trying to pull the parquet floor out of her den, and I grabbed the stripper and impressed Mom with it. Nowadays it just sits in the garage, waiting on somebody else to need a $25 dollar stripper.
Basically it is an electric motor powered vibrating blade with a weight on wheels.
Rent one, works great!!
David from jax

 

[Streetcar]

Many old tile and adhesives have asbestos as a ingredient. You may want to test your tile and adhesive

 

[kidr]

I've seen tile removed with a heat gun to soften glue. Tile peels right off.

 

[newbury]

Reads like an excuse to buy an SDS-Max hammerdrill.

 

[shaeff]

Reads like an excuse to buy an SDS-Max hammerdrill.

I've got the Harbor Freight unit and have to admit, it's actually pretty nice. Makes quick work of punching through 10" concrete walls when drilling holes, and with a pointed jackhammer bit on it breaks up concrete very well.

Voted: would buy again.

 

[BHD]

I bought a used palmer floor striper, off ebay for $100, and have done a number of floors, for me and my extended family, sure beats a hammer chisel or putty knife, the tayler unit is nearly the same machine.

what would take a day or two with a hammer and chisel can usually be done in 30 to 45 mins, or less,
(my DD spent two days in there old bathroom with a hammer and chisel, and I did her kitchen about 4 times the size, in about 30 mins),

well worth it to rent or even to buy if you have a lot to do, IMO

I have seen an attachment for saws all, kind of a large putty knife attachment,
reciprocating saw scraper, - Google Search

 

[Dadnatron]

HF Compressed Air floor scraper

 

[radioman]

ok -- first off -- from personal experience -- stay away from reciprocating saws with scraper blades attachment. it has too much movement for my liking and when it does strike - sometimes it works sometimes it just jars you right back. you have to use a right balance of angle, speed, and watch what you are doing . no too dangerous.
i have used the harbor freight mini jack hammer with flat blade -- it works, but its also tedious. i used bosch sds bulldog -- it doesnt have the movement like the harbofrieght one but its lighter, smoother and softer. still tedious. those OLLLD tiles on concrete are a BEAR. you cant heat them up and then pull since concrete would suck up so much heat like heatsink it just a waste of gas. if it was on wood subfloor. if it was the newer tiles yeah comes right up with some heat.

whatever you do -- its breathing protection time since it must be one of those old tile before 80s and they use nasty stuff. IF you got a weekend of free time and you can rent a floor scraper, you can stand up ad abuse the heck out of it since its old tiles on concrete. otherwise you will be on your knees all day using a hammer drill type with flat blade. done it several ways and -- my vote is ... rent. :2cents:

 

[Steppenwolfe]

If that vct is down that good, you should consider going over it. Most flooring adhesives, and thinsets will now adhere to vct.

 

[turnkey4099]

Rent an electric floor tile remover.

+1. When they did my remove and replace they used one of them. Piece of cake. Operator didn't even break a sweat.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Linoleum over plywood I do in two stages. Big heat gun to remove most of it then wallpaper steamer to remove remaining backing paper and glue. Easy to do.