One floor type that is widely used is vinyl flooring. This option has installation ease and is affordable. For refurbishment, existing vinyl floors have to be removed. There are times when other floors can be fitted over vinyl floors, provided it is functional. These include engineered floors, hardwood floors or laminate floors. Interestingly, you can remove your vinyl floor yourself. Yes, you can, and this guide will help you do so.
Safety
If you were to be in the 1980s and want to take out an asbestos vinyl sheet flooring, it was required that you call in an asbestos abatement contractor with a license to perform floor testing. Removing asbestos is risky, and only an expert can do the job. Should you think your vinyl is asbestos and would like to keep it, you can lay a new floor over it under the condition that the vinyl is in tip-top condition and won’t be altered such that it will cause asbestos fibres to be released. Please bring in an expert carpet installer if your vinyl flooring asbestos would be shaken up during removal.
Free the space of everything
It is the floor you want to work on, and anything sitting on it would disturb the work, so clear the entire space before you begin.
Uninstall baseboards
Floor edges are mostly covered in baseboards. You should remove these first before taking out the vinyl floor. See how to do this:
For wall safety, position the woodblock above the baseboard with a few inches between them
Hold the larger edge of the prybar at the trim and wall joint
Using a rubber mallet, quickly give the prybar head a few taps to push it beneath the trim
Carefully lose the trim from the wall gradually. A quick yank could break the trim.
Should you choose to use the trim again, put an inscription behind the trim showing its location so you can easily install it later on.
Begin from the centre
Vinyl floors are usually installed by a perimeter which means that no adhesive is applied at the floor centre.
Cut through the centre of the vinyl floor with your utility knife
Measure 12 inches to the left or right and cut out a strip equally distant from the initial cut. A narrow strip cutting helps make the work easier
As you cut the length of the strip, roll the vinyl along
When the length is cut, carefully raise the vinyl strip until you can’t move it again due to the glue close to the perimeter
Free the vinyl with a 5-in-1 scraper. Still not freed? Beat off the adhered part with your prybar and hammer
With a vinyl tile or plank floor, use a putty knife to pry up an edge of the tile. If enough room has opened, slide the putty knife under and lose the plank or tile till it comes off
Take out glued areas
If you are done removing areas of the vinyl floor adhered with glue, you now need to work on the glued perimeter.
Chip off the glue beneath the vinyl floor with the flat edge of the prybar
Remove as many as possible, then with a 5-in-1 tool or a scraper tool, take out the adhesive left on the floor
Take out glue from the subfloor
Still having more glue on the subfloor? Apply warm soapy water on the glue to get it soaked, then clean off the excess
Where warm soapy water doesn’t work, use a heat gun to dissolve the glue and have it scraped off
Removing vinyl floor from concrete
Just the way you remove the vinyl floor from the subfloor, that’s how you will lose it free from concrete. But you may encounter greater difficulty in removing the glue from the concrete. Begin with scraping the glue using a scraper or prybar. Where this tool is not working to remove the glue, then a commercial adhesive stripper may come in handy. This tool will dissolve and make the glue easy to remove.
Tidy up the space
- After taking out the entire vinyl floor, sweep the room with a broom or wet/dry vacuum to take out all the rubbish
- What you do with the removed vinyl is the next big thing. There are local recycling centres that may be into recycling old vinyl. Find out if there is one in your area and whether they recycle used vinyl
Visit here, for more information
Our final words
Most people consider removing vinyl flooring a big project they carry out by themselves. Need tools and materials to remove vinyl flooring? Come to M-M Carpet London and if you need to upgrade your space with the most recent carpet flooring in London, you should also come to us. We will be glad to help you today.
