Thank you and good to hear. This was my very first TH-cam, by the way. And first and only take. I simply put the camera on the tripod and went for it. But seriously, I tried other ways to remove that glue before I figured out this way and this was the best by far. Glad it helped you.
Thanks so much! This worked great for me, after spending a few hours scraping I found this video and finished the job in under an hour. You may want to mention that it would be a good idea to check for asbestos before doing something like this.
Didn't work too well here on some 44 year old linoleum. The top layer was real brittle, so the multi-tool + heat gun made pretty quick work of that. I heated it from the top then peeled the upper layer off with the Dremel. The next layer (lower layer of linoleum + the glue) wasn't having anything to do with the heat gun. 1200 watts would soften it just a tad (and was starting to burn!). Answer? Belt sander with a course-grit belt.
Thanks for the video John. I used the same technique in the past but used 2", 3" and 6" knifes. The 6" was a drywall knife for bedding in joints. It worked well because its spring steel and was very flexible. I also used my heat gun's high setting to heat up the broad knife and it scraped through the glue like butter without damaging the 1-1/4" plywood floor below.
Great idea, Kolin Ken, to heat up the broad knife with the heat gun. (I do recall now that my blade got really hot, too, from the proximity of the heat gun.) Really good idea, especially if using a wider blade. Thanks. JRR
John, throw a wet towel on top of the glue. Let soak for 15 - 20 minutes. You’ll be amazed... Now if it’s cold in your house the heat gun will be fine. I live in Texas and it’s too hot for a heat gun.
The electric iron is working pretty good for me and with the setting on it I can regulate the heat/ steam ,it's softening them up and I can get them up easy enough mine were self sticking so no thin set used or much residue left behind .
Thank you for the instructions. I used the iron method for the top layer of vinyl squares in my hall but the original flooring stuck to the plywood sub-flooring is REALLY stuck. Hopefully I can find a blade that fits my ryobi. Then laminate hardwood, click and lock it is.
Although I happen to have all 3 tools your using, I'm thinking of just tiling over the linoleum....somehow...lol. That seems like it would take forever!
It beats an idiot stick and a razor scraper. It would take me about 3 minutes to make an extension to allow me to use that tool standing up. Seams use a different adhesive hence why they are harder to deal with. However that vinyl appears to be a Rotogravure and not an Inlay. Inlays are much stronger floors.
Good golly mate; next time just saw the plywood into two by two squares and replace the lot, Time is money, that whole job would of taken 5% of the time.
I laid tongue-in-groove engineered hardwood over it, and the elevation had to be exact to meet up with three other entrances. Plus, the old linoleum was not under the base cabinets and I installed my new cabinets in a slightly different location. ... Myriad reasons to remove the old linoleum entirely.
Good question. I suppose my terminology is kind of like saying "Kleenex" vs. tissues. Or "Scotch Tape" vs. sellotape or sticky tape. Here is an interesting discussion from 'Resilient Flooring' by Matt Higgins, Issue 256 - December 2015/January 2016 "What's the Difference: Linoleum vs. Vinyl" Flooring options abound-even the options have options. But if you’re looking for inexpensive flooring, especially in a potentially wet area such as a kitchen or bathroom, you’re probably going to consider linoleum and vinyl. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, these materials are not the same. The mention of either sometimes conjures up images of second-rate products, but both have their place. Linoleum and vinyl fall into the category of resilient flooring. According to Michele Zelman of Armstrong, which makes flooring products out of both materials, to call a flooring material resilient means that it can restore its shape. If a heavy object were to land on it, the material wouldn’t necessarily be permanently dented. Linoleum is mostly, but not exclusively, limited to commercial applications. Vinyl is found in numerous residential and commercial applications. Both materials are available in sheets and in tiles.
Justin Vidal It should work really easy for your case of self sticking tiles because you don’t have to deal with the miserable glue I had to soften and remove. Good luck.
Not likely. Asbestos vinyl flooring was banned in the US in the late 1970's, with some old stock being installed as late as the early 1980's. This particular Amstrong product was not an asbestos product. If anyone has any question about whether a product contains Asbestos they can test a small piece with a test kit from Home Depot or contact the manufacturer.
Hey people. I own my own Asbestos abatement company here in colorado. I’ve been in this industry for 21 years. And the last 3 projects I’ve done had been linoleum. The only way to know if it is asbestos is to test it. Like the other message said. Preferably by a certified building inspector. I am actually sitting in containment struggling with the linoleum I am removing. It’s why I am watching the video. Asbestos was regulated in the United States in 1983. And if someone had a 100,000 sq ft. Warehouse full of asbestos material they can still sell it for use. Manufacturing was banned in ‘83. Not the use. Canada and Mexico still send asbestos containing material still in 2023 to the USA.
+dragoness0420: It should. I'm guessing it would be easier for a concrete sub-floor because you're not concerned about splintering or gouging or burning any wood.
The answer is that it kind of works. The concrete will destroy the scraper attachment very quickly( like after 1% of the job haha). I did this job and it was absolutely miserable trying to remove the 40 year old linoleum off of concrete subfloor. I tried just about everything including the iron trick and this exact dremel scraping attachment. If I had to do the same job again this time around I would spend the money to rent a commercial concrete sander from Home Depot and just sand away. Use a window scraper to get the corners and under the cabinets and such. Then put down a layer of thinset to smooth it all out. This sounds like a lot of work but trust me it would be 100x faster.
@@chrisk3988 -- I know your pain! Doing the second area (laundry room) in my 40-y.o. house that has ugly old linoleum. I use the oscillating tool to get what I can, then soak the remaining glue with a weak solution of water and dishwashing soap, let it soak in then scrape.
+wantonjr1: Good question. Because I needed to keep the exact elevation of the floor so that when I installed the hardwood flooring to follow, it would exactly match the surface of the hardwood flooring in the adjoining hallway and dining room without any transition strips or step in thickness. Also, I happen to know that the 1/4" plywood (not luan) is also glued to a 1/2" plywood sub-floor. So it would be even more trouble removing the 1/4" plywood cleanly from the sub-floor. And there is no way that it would have made sense for me to tear out the floor down to the floor joists. Not only would that have been a bigger and messier job, but would add a whole new set of requirements and difficulties with flush cuts and re-supports/scabbing, etc., around the entire perimeter, including around closet walls, into the laundry room, and so on. Not to mention that with my method shown in the video, our kitchen and laundry room were still fully functional the entire job. And lastly, the original builder did a good job finishing off/filling dips at seams, knots, etc., of the 1/4" plywood with a quality wood filler and I was able to preserve all that without any harm done by my heat gun or scraper.
If you mean the 2.3-Amp Dremel tool, I would think so. Good luck with the job. I see other comments on other blades to use and I say try what works best for you. It might have gone faster for me if I tried wider blades. Now that it has been 2 1/2 years, I can reaffirm that it was well worth the effort doing it right: my floor is still perfect and it is really nice having the exact same level floor surface at the transition to the hallway and the dining room without any transition trim pieces.
John Renzi I got the 3.3 works great. but come to find out that my house has a partical board sub floor. but it did work on it though. I'll watching out for more videos. thank you!
Best advice on the internet, John! I found your method the one and only way to get the glue off the wooden floor. Great video.
Thank you and good to hear. This was my very first TH-cam, by the way. And first and only take. I simply put the camera on the tripod and went for it. But seriously, I tried other ways to remove that glue before I figured out this way and this was the best by far. Glad it helped you.
Thanks so much! This worked great for me, after spending a few hours scraping I found this video and finished the job in under an hour. You may want to mention that it would be a good idea to check for asbestos before doing something like this.
Yes, always good to check on that. Mine had no asbestos. It's use was banned in home building materials 12 years prior to my home's construction.
Didn't work too well here on some 44 year old linoleum. The top layer was real brittle, so the multi-tool + heat gun made pretty quick work of that. I heated it from the top then peeled the upper layer off with the Dremel. The next layer (lower layer of linoleum + the glue) wasn't having anything to do with the heat gun. 1200 watts would soften it just a tad (and was starting to burn!). Answer? Belt sander with a course-grit belt.
Thanks for the video John.
I used the same technique in the past but used 2", 3" and 6" knifes. The 6" was a drywall knife for bedding in joints. It worked well because its spring steel and was very flexible. I also used my heat gun's high setting to heat up the broad knife and it scraped through the glue like butter without damaging the 1-1/4" plywood floor below.
Great idea, Kolin Ken, to heat up the broad knife with the heat gun. (I do recall now that my blade got really hot, too, from the proximity of the heat gun.) Really good idea, especially if using a wider blade.
Thanks.
JRR
I think this might work for me. I used scrapper but it doesn't work. I need to buy a heatgun and a multitool now.
Oh, why didn't I watch this before spending the last 3 hours busting my ass? I own a damn dremel!
Never thought of a multi tool with that blade. Have that, a will use it! Thanks!
very helpful video. to the point, concise and works well. thanks John.
Thanks, Stephen. Glad it helped.
John, throw a wet towel on top of the glue. Let soak for 15 - 20 minutes. You’ll be amazed... Now if it’s cold in your house the heat gun will be fine. I live in Texas and it’s too hot for a heat gun.
Good tip to try. And I agree the heat gun would likely be brutal in Texas (unless you were lucky enough to find a cool spell). Thanks for checking in.
In other words there is no easy way to get the paper and glue off. Great.
Thanks for the vid.
Thanks for this video! Just want I needed to know to remove my linoleum.
The electric iron is working pretty good for me and with the setting on it I can regulate the heat/ steam ,it's softening them up and I can get them up easy enough mine were self sticking so no thin set used or much residue left behind .
Sounds like the best solution to me. Congratulations.
Thanks. You're a life saver.
Glad to help, John.
Quite the contrary, this certainly contained asbestos. This was very bad idea.
Best video yet...thanks
Thanks, Robert!
Thank you for the instructions. I used the iron method for the top layer of vinyl squares in my hall but the original flooring stuck to the plywood sub-flooring is REALLY stuck. Hopefully I can find a blade that fits my ryobi. Then laminate hardwood, click and lock it is.
I wish you the best of luck. Persistence pays off. Thanks for checking in.
Test for asbestos in the tile, glue and especially the backing paper before any work like this as it's likely to contain it.
zenonithus thanks, these videos will outlawed befor to long . Criminals
@KGB 1974 because it was a cheap way to make it stronger. they weren't fully aware of the effects back when these backings were being used.
Very good detail and explanation.
Thank you, Catherine.
Use hot iron with vapor to peel off.
Although I happen to have all 3 tools your using, I'm thinking of just tiling over the linoleum....somehow...lol. That seems like it would take forever!
It beats an idiot stick and a razor scraper. It would take me about 3 minutes to make an extension to allow me to use that tool standing up.
Seams use a different adhesive hence why they are harder to deal with. However that vinyl appears to be a Rotogravure and not an Inlay. Inlays are much stronger floors.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge
You're very welcome.
Good golly mate; next time just saw the plywood into two by two squares and replace the lot, Time is money, that whole job would of taken 5% of the time.
You need to pay someone to do this, it's incredibly difficult
Gesh this is a nightmare, we’re getting ready to pull ours up. Pray for us 😂
Good grief! How long does it take to do a whole floor like this? That's looks like a phenomenally tedious job.
Yep. It was tedious, alright. But the least painful of all options.
@@videocreationsbyjohnrenzi thanks. 👍
If a floor is stuck down that good, and there's only one layer, I'd be laying another sheet vinyl right over top.
I laid tongue-in-groove engineered hardwood over it, and the elevation had to be exact to meet up with three other entrances. Plus, the old linoleum was not under the base cabinets and I installed my new cabinets in a slightly different location. ... Myriad reasons to remove the old linoleum entirely.
oh yea those fumes are just wonderful to smell
Rent a damn floor scraper already. $50, whole job done in an hour. This pains me to watch lol. GOOD LUCK!
That's not true, sometimes i'ts super hard to scrape it with the scraper
Why are you calling vinyl linoleum? They're two different products.
Good question. I suppose my terminology is kind of like saying "Kleenex" vs. tissues. Or "Scotch Tape" vs. sellotape or sticky tape.
Here is an interesting discussion from 'Resilient Flooring' by Matt Higgins, Issue 256 - December 2015/January 2016
"What's the Difference: Linoleum vs. Vinyl"
Flooring options abound-even the options have options. But if you’re looking for inexpensive flooring, especially in a potentially wet area such as a kitchen or bathroom, you’re probably going to consider linoleum and vinyl. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, these materials are not the same. The mention of either sometimes conjures up images of second-rate products, but both have their place. Linoleum and vinyl fall into the category of resilient flooring. According to Michele Zelman of Armstrong, which makes flooring products out of both materials, to call a flooring material resilient means that it can restore its shape. If a heavy object were to land on it, the material wouldn’t necessarily be permanently dented. Linoleum is mostly, but not exclusively, limited to commercial applications. Vinyl is found in numerous residential and commercial applications. Both materials are available in sheets and in tiles.
That's a dremmel blade
Would this method work with Vinyl self sticking tiles?
Justin Vidal It should work really easy for your case of self sticking tiles because you don’t have to deal with the miserable glue I had to soften and remove. Good luck.
Pure acetone would be much easier
Do not do this - that's asbestos paper backing!
Not likely. Asbestos vinyl flooring was banned in the US in the late 1970's, with some old stock being installed as late as the early 1980's. This particular Amstrong product was not an asbestos product. If anyone has any question about whether a product contains Asbestos they can test a small piece with a test kit from Home Depot or contact the manufacturer.
Hey people. I own my own Asbestos abatement company here in colorado. I’ve been in this industry for 21 years. And the last 3 projects I’ve done had been linoleum. The only way to know if it is asbestos is to test it. Like the other message said. Preferably by a certified building inspector. I am actually sitting in containment struggling with the linoleum I am removing. It’s why I am watching the video. Asbestos was regulated in the United States in 1983. And if someone had a 100,000 sq ft. Warehouse full of asbestos material they can still sell it for use. Manufacturing was banned in ‘83. Not the use. Canada and Mexico still send asbestos containing material still in 2023 to the USA.
There gots to be easier way!
+metrowestdude Spyder scraper on a Sawzall.
Pro1er Hmmm. Thanks I'll look into that next time.
Would this method work with concrete subfloor as well?
+dragoness0420: It should. I'm guessing it would be easier for a concrete sub-floor because you're not concerned about splintering or gouging or burning any wood.
The answer is that it kind of works. The concrete will destroy the scraper attachment very quickly( like after 1% of the job haha). I did this job and it was absolutely miserable trying to remove the 40 year old linoleum off of concrete subfloor. I tried just about everything including the iron trick and this exact dremel scraping attachment.
If I had to do the same job again this time around I would spend the money to rent a commercial concrete sander from Home Depot and just sand away. Use a window scraper to get the corners and under the cabinets and such. Then put down a layer of thinset to smooth it all out. This sounds like a lot of work but trust me it would be 100x faster.
@@chrisk3988 -- I know your pain! Doing the second area (laundry room) in my 40-y.o. house that has ugly old linoleum. I use the oscillating tool to get what I can, then soak the remaining glue with a weak solution of water and dishwashing soap, let it soak in then scrape.
Why not just rip out the luan and linoleum together ?
+wantonjr1: Good question. Because I needed to keep the exact elevation of the floor so that when I installed the hardwood flooring to follow, it would exactly match the surface of the hardwood flooring in the adjoining hallway and dining room without any transition strips or step in thickness. Also, I happen to know that the 1/4" plywood (not luan) is also glued to a 1/2" plywood sub-floor. So it would be even more trouble removing the 1/4" plywood cleanly from the sub-floor.
And there is no way that it would have made sense for me to tear out the floor down to the floor joists. Not only would that have been a bigger and messier job, but would add a whole new set of requirements and difficulties with flush cuts and re-supports/scabbing, etc., around the entire perimeter, including around closet walls, into the laundry room, and so on. Not to mention that with my method shown in the video, our kitchen and laundry room were still fully functional the entire job.
And lastly, the original builder did a good job finishing off/filling dips at seams, knots, etc., of the 1/4" plywood with a quality wood filler and I was able to preserve all that without any harm done by my heat gun or scraper.
Very unusual to have glued down underlayment, but understand Thanks !
Great video. On the dremil, would the 2.3 do the same? just curious. Thanks
If you mean the 2.3-Amp Dremel tool, I would think so.
Good luck with the job. I see other comments on other blades to use and I say try what works best for you. It might have gone faster for me if I tried wider blades.
Now that it has been 2 1/2 years, I can reaffirm that it was well worth the effort doing it right: my floor is still perfect and it is really nice having the exact same level floor surface at the transition to the hallway and the dining room without any transition trim pieces.
John Renzi I got the 3.3 works great. but come to find out that my house has a partical board sub floor. but it did work on it though. I'll watching out for more videos. thank you!
Wow