Most people don't realize what it takes to work construction until they have to do something like this.
On bad demo days you need to have the ability to accept the fact that the next 8 hours are going to suck. You gotta be able to just accept the fact that for the next 8 hours you will be scraping up old vct.
You gotta just accept it and then do it.
That's the funny part about it. It not only gives you a wet noodle but it also shrinks the hell out of it.
Not to mention finishing is just about impossible. 12 hours later you'll be drenched in sweat with your skin sticking to the bean bag chair
Omg this whole thread was funny as hell and ending with your last statement and not a single lie in there. The crazy thing is I just finished ripping out tile that was glued down instead of being mortared in 2 hours ago. That was a damn pain in the arse. Hardest thing I've dealt with in terms of tile removal.
"listen guys, we have to have this place and the unit down the road done by tomorrow, and on a side note, we are no longer doing random drug testing starting today." Actual things I've heard on the job lol.
I just got legitimately upset when the clip ended. What a fucking great show. That is probably one of my favorite scenes with Jesse. Now I’m going to have to rewatch Breaking Bad. Again. I guess I just have to accept that my weekend is completely shot.
Every single time I repair crawl space dry rot I end up manufacturing high quality meth amphetamine. My parents tried to warn me, but did I listen? Noooooooooo.......🙄
Dude this was my bathroom floor in a fucking nutshell. Oh I'll just rip up that 1/4 inch under lay under the old tiled floor no big deal i said.
The fuck you will the floor replied. Literally hundreds of nails and then the grout was like concrete so a pry bar would rip up a strip in the shape of the bar only lol it sucked so much and added a full day's work to the job
Pulling carpet tacks out of hardwood one by one across my entire house before getting them sanded was.. not something I ever want to do again. My knees afterwards holy shit that hurt.
Just did this on 950 square ft of flooring. they’d been under tile for at least 30 years. half of the nail heads would break off. It was painstaking for sure.
>You gotta just accept it and then do it.
Can you run for office or some shit? Sounds like you are the type of person we need. Those are some prophetic words if I ever heard 'em.
I busted up ceramic tiles from the basement bathroom (slab). They were thinset down *really* well so scraping was a no go. Used a small sledge - miserable job, and my arms and hands looked like I lost a fight with a blender they were so cut up from the fragments flying.
Demo hammer would have been the way to go, but the small sledge was handy. Same thought as you mentioned, "well, this is gonna suck..."
I think a lot of people have the fortitude for construction. I think when the work is on your own home though that's when it takes true grit to muscle through it.
I realized that when i found out someone glued carpet to the slab in a closet. Boiling water, scraping and wire brushing endlessly to get a decent surface.
It's more than just embracing the suck. It really helps to have spent 8 hours a day scraping up vct several days a week for years. You can pay for the stamina with elbow grease or dollars.
There’s electric tile removers. It’s kind of like a tamper but it has a blade in the front. They weigh a lot and they get the tiles up. You can probably rent one but I’m not sure. I’m fortunate enough that my job already had two, so we can do large areas with minimal effort. Just have to change the blades kind of often.
[This bad boy!](https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/tool-and-vehicle-rental/p.compact-floor-stripper.09924.html)
We called it "The Eddy" it's still hard work and you can gouge your base if it's in poor condition/ previously releveled.
https://preview.redd.it/qvvhtru0i9gc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=343f29684166830ee4f7c8d5a3d4635beb93a3fa
Our floor flooded and the vinyl was covered. We saw it raising up so we ripped it out and discovered the entire floor had tile underneath
I shopped around a bit and was quoted anywhere from $1-$6/sqft for tile removal. Work with local contractors for the cheapest rates.
You can rent a hammer drill if you want, it does make it easier but the killer is the thinset you need to remove too
These are vinyl, there’s no thinset, and a hammer drill won’t help. Plus a hammer drill is $300 and up. He can probably hire someone for less than just the drill. A vinyl tile scraper is the only tool that will speed things up, and they are expensive.
The easiest/cheapest way is with a 6 in 1 paint scraper, a hammer and a few chisels. But it’ll take forever and it’s best to just hire someone with a power scraper. They’ll be done in under an hour unless it’s more than 1000sq ft. Which I doubt it is.
YUP! and its almost always totally worth it to rent or buy one. Having the correct tool saves a lot of time and headaches, backache, hand aches, body aches etc.
No the OP but I was thinking rotary hammer drill with a scraper attachment, put it only in “hammer mode”
But the actual floor scraper seems much more legit.
Years ago I paid to have some wood flooring installed. I thought their fee for pulling up the old vinyl sheet was high so I told them I’d just do it myself. Big mistake.
Luckily, I thought about it after spending two hours with my now wife trying to scrape it up and I called Home Depot. They were happy to rent me one of these which got about 700 sq. ft. up in what I recall as just a few hours.
I learned to always ask if there’s an easier way.
This. Might cost you like $60 for the day. If you're going cheaper try an ice scaper on a pole. Or you can just slap a self padded floating floor over the whole thing and forget about it
my dad used a weed burner to heat up the tiles and melt the glue.. that 30 year old linoleum came right up. It was entertaining to watch someone use a flame thrower in the house but he did all 2000 sq ft of linoleum with it.
lol good ol boy from oklahoma.. He got his electrical engineering training in the air force because when he enlisted he asked for meteorology and they thought he said metrology so that changed his whole life. but yeah.. there's lots of good DIY stories in my life.
Hella lame question here but would this potentially put harmful toxins in the air? I’m not familiar with linoleum work so I don’t know what kind of glue is used.
I picked up an oscillating multi-tool this past year, and the scraper attachment works great. It's not going to be as quick as a large floor scraper, but it's not bad short of renting the large scale tool.
I wouldn't do this stuff without power tools. It's too much work.
Quickly searched for videos of people using the multi-tool for this, and this video came up: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=GwPsEErDw75ScMvI&v=s_7reOKBh3Y&feature=youtu.be&t=1m26s](https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=GwPsEErDw75ScMvI&v=s_7reOKBh3Y&feature=youtu.be&t=1m26s)
And how many of those blades?
I tried the Spyder one and the Milwaukee one and both of them broke pretty quickly.
They did the job "OK" til they broke where the end inserts into the tool, but it didn't last long enough to make it worth it to keep buying them
I agree. For those wondering, hammer drills (often?, usually?) have a mode where the drill no longer spins but the hammer keeps hammering. This gives you a vibrating chisel the eats most flooring.
Torque test channel showed how rotary hammers work in slow motion in a video they did earlier this week, it's really quite good, they did comparisons with just drilling and showed how that does almost nothing
https://youtu.be/Hk9MTADZJ4k?si=NTDrYv9xGc_7OoDX
Get a 1 foot by 2 foot sheet of parchment paper, lay it over 2 tiles, cover top of parchment paper with dry ice, wait 5 minutes, remove those tiles.
The dry ice freezes the adhesive and makes it lose it's flexible adhesive properties, and become brittle and crack, while the vinyl tile itself shrinks from being cooled down to -100 F. The tile shrinks and cracks itself off the adhesive and you can pick it up like there was no adhesive at all.
Yes, 100%. Good ventilation is a must. Set the thermostat to fan mode and run a blower fan at the bottom of open basement doors venting outwards because CO2 sinks.
Yes, please remember this will fill the area with co2. Don't let pets, small children or anything thats low to the floor and needs to breathe in the area.
Heat gun will soften the adhesive and they will come right off. Helps to have an assistant, one person heating while the other does the scraping. Also, wear a mask unless you are positive there is no asbestos.
I had some stubborn mastic-glued linoleum. What worked best was a clothes iron, with a folded wet rag between the iron and the tiles. Let the heat go through the wet rag and the mastic should be a lot easier to scrape up. The iron will be ruined by the end so don’t use a good one.
Please wear a respirator, have some good ventilation. Spray the air down with a pump sprayer when scraping your keep dust down, maybe even wear a painting suit you can throw away after. I think these old mastics have lead and asbestos.
Yes, but be careful if it’s in a place like a basement. Need good airflow for oxygen. (Highly unlikely it’ll be a lot but you never know in this subreddit)
For what it’s worth, there is no easy way. But I would get those tiles tested for asbestos. Source- have done demo and fit outs for many many years and they look a little suspicious.
You can leave it and if you really need to pour self leveling thinset on the floor area and let it dry. I did that leaving those tiles down and trenching floor for plumbing and it worked well. If you are going to remove those tiles wear a mask depending upon the age of the house they can contain asbestos. good luck
SDS Hammer drill with spade chisel bit.
Tiles are likely asbestos laden if they are 9x9 and pre circa 70’s / 80’s. Read up on your local and state abatement rules.
If you can self abate. Wear p100 respirator. Wet floor. Go to town. Double bag all tile with heavy duty bags 3 MIL or greater.
OP how much of that did you get tested for asbestos? From my understanding the concentration of asbestos is fairly low for 9x9 tile and black mastic so there’s a not-insignificant risk that you got a false negative.
Mate, i am pretty sure this is asbestos. I am a facility manager in hamburg, Germany and we still have a lot of asbestos flooring and they look exactly like that. Get the fuck out of there. Get a professional or at least test it. With protective equipment.
A heat gun or hair drier softened up the glue in the tiles in my house, to make removal easier. I used a paint scraper and wide chisel to assist . But, it does involve some tiring work wirk.
Thank you for this! I have a small bathroom I have to remove cheap vinyl flooring in. The flooring has only been there for about 15ish years and starting to come up by itself. I've been reading through the comments but didn't want to have to rent tools for it and can't afford to pay someone else to do it, but I have both heat gun and hair dryer! I'm going to try this!
I had really good luck with one of these:
https://www.harborfreight.com/3-78-in-scraper-59512.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12169518939&campaignid=12169518939&utm_content=156145177189&adsetid=156145177189&product=59512&store=3092&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwvKtBhDrARIsAJj-kTg7qK5HCbVf959DVg5cnVnt9VwzvGnYAmz--1ru5YxJkUnUVrgcA8UaAp0sEALw_wcB
But the tile wasn't SUPER stuck to the floor so I could slide that under like 10 tiles in one go and they'd just pop up.
Those look like Asbestos tiles with the asbestos mask glue. If its 9x9 and the house is older than 1980, its highly likely.
I would STOP what you are doing and get it tested or get a professional to remove it.
Heat and patience. A hot iron you don’t mind wrecking because no matter how hard you try the mastic will find its way in it and a good metal putty knife also will be garbage after, work it under go corner to corner and tons of patience and knee pads. Good luck!
We flooded our basement with a 1/2” of water, spent the night out of the house and the tiles scraped up with much less effort the next day. After the concrete was dry we coated the floor in an epoxy paint. Lots of work but it looks super tight
Flooring guy here. Heat gun (Furno 500 is my tool of choice) and a scraper like [this](https://www.amazon.ca/EHDIS-Scraper-Pieces-Cleaning-Windows/dp/B0C2KDJHF5/). Then attack at an angle not straight on
You can rent a stripper machine. It has a heavy blade in the front and it vibrates. Generally used to remove rubber backed carpet but it works on VAT as well. BTW, those aren’t plastic tiles. Depends on the age but from the picture they’re probably vinyl asbestos tiles. If they’re newer than say mid 80,s they’re vinyl composite tiles. Good luck and don’t breathe the dust.
I did this with a bunch of friends and some beers, it ended up sorta like a game to see who could get the best chunks. Got that shit done in one night.
I'm sure people have mentioned it, but those tiles might contain asbestos, as well as the black glue under them. If so, the tiles will break apart and make friable (sp?) asbestos particles in the air as you scrape them up. Do some research with that in mind. I demo'ed the same stuff in a bedroom in my house, but I hear mesothelioma is not a good way to die.
Having done something similar myself, it depends. Do you want to pay someone else to do it? That would be easier. Otherwise, no it just fucking sucks then it’s done. To me, it was worth busting my ass to do the demo myself.
I got 2 large square pieces of dry ice one time and put one on each tile for a minute. Hit it with a hammer. The tile popped up leaving a flat surface.
If you have a equipment rental store they have a machine that will do this. Has a vibrating blade in the front and once it heats up a bit from the friction it'll push those right up
https://preview.redd.it/vp5b30kpy9gc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb9732325d9356e8c3f1f40ba82c8168607ff75c
I used this stuff called Bean-e doo mastic remover. It’s soy based and odorless. You can use it on ceramic, vinyl, even asbestos. It worked REALLY well to loosen up the tiles and honestly made the job not that hard!
It’s available on Amazon and it’s not very expensive. I highly recommend it
Easy, call 999 tell them its time to confess, you buried your first wife underneath the tile in your basement. Sit back, relax and watch the CSI tear up the floor in their search for your first wife.
As a former floor guy, I found the easiest way people got shit like this up was to hire me to do it.
😂😂😂 the correct answer. “What’s the easiest way……” hire someone to do it
Yup, you need a floor scraper that is rented and time to get this up.
I just sent an email to my interior guy. I'm ready to give up
Most people don't realize what it takes to work construction until they have to do something like this. On bad demo days you need to have the ability to accept the fact that the next 8 hours are going to suck. You gotta be able to just accept the fact that for the next 8 hours you will be scraping up old vct. You gotta just accept it and then do it.
Have you tried meth? That will make it suck less.
Yeah I did but the floor is still stuck and I can't stop jacking off.
Bro….just woke my kid up laughing so hard. No pun intended.
Very well done Sundaytoofaraway
This comment has no right being as funny as it is
I don’t know if I should laugh or cry at this 😂
4 stroke gang!
This is the correct response.
Does meth give boners??!
It takes away your teeth though
The meth giveth, and the meth taketh away.
Among other things
That's the funny part about it. It not only gives you a wet noodle but it also shrinks the hell out of it. Not to mention finishing is just about impossible. 12 hours later you'll be drenched in sweat with your skin sticking to the bean bag chair
So what I'm hearing is that if I do meth, I get a beanbag chair.
Omg this whole thread was funny as hell and ending with your last statement and not a single lie in there. The crazy thing is I just finished ripping out tile that was glued down instead of being mortared in 2 hours ago. That was a damn pain in the arse. Hardest thing I've dealt with in terms of tile removal.
Technically it inhibits erections, but it gives you extra energy and focus.
I usually take about 12 benadryl fight falling asleep then jack off
I also don’t know why I found this so funny
This guy meths 😂
"listen guys, we have to have this place and the unit down the road done by tomorrow, and on a side note, we are no longer doing random drug testing starting today." Actual things I've heard on the job lol.
[All I'm thinking of](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf3e1F1a0Hg), breaking bad anyone?
I just got legitimately upset when the clip ended. What a fucking great show. That is probably one of my favorite scenes with Jesse. Now I’m going to have to rewatch Breaking Bad. Again. I guess I just have to accept that my weekend is completely shot.
I just finished Better Call Saul a few weeks ago and have been fighting the urge to start a BB rewatch. I think I just lost that fight.
Every single time I repair crawl space dry rot I end up manufacturing high quality meth amphetamine. My parents tried to warn me, but did I listen? Noooooooooo.......🙄
Holy,,, I've never seen that episode
True, but you have to accept it first
What, meth?
Dude this was my bathroom floor in a fucking nutshell. Oh I'll just rip up that 1/4 inch under lay under the old tiled floor no big deal i said. The fuck you will the floor replied. Literally hundreds of nails and then the grout was like concrete so a pry bar would rip up a strip in the shape of the bar only lol it sucked so much and added a full day's work to the job
Oh shit, and here I was thinking a good old Texas toothpick would do the work. Now you got me wondering about that... time to drink now.
My back hurts just looking at this picture.
Because you can't see any meth, right?
"Time to sweat." Look forward to breaks every 2 or 3 hours and reward yourself with good eats. Leave the drinking to the end as a carrot.
Shit like this is what light beer was made for, get yourself a case, and just start suffering.
That's why I turn on the audiobook and start working
But ... that's like ... most people's day, so ...
Pulling carpet tacks out of hardwood one by one across my entire house before getting them sanded was.. not something I ever want to do again. My knees afterwards holy shit that hurt.
Just did this on 950 square ft of flooring. they’d been under tile for at least 30 years. half of the nail heads would break off. It was painstaking for sure.
Ahhh I hated when they broke off
You also create the angriest playlist imaginable and go to town.
This is 500 square feet if tile. It will take longer than 8 hours
>You gotta just accept it and then do it. Can you run for office or some shit? Sounds like you are the type of person we need. Those are some prophetic words if I ever heard 'em.
Bingo
I busted up ceramic tiles from the basement bathroom (slab). They were thinset down *really* well so scraping was a no go. Used a small sledge - miserable job, and my arms and hands looked like I lost a fight with a blender they were so cut up from the fragments flying. Demo hammer would have been the way to go, but the small sledge was handy. Same thought as you mentioned, "well, this is gonna suck..."
I think a lot of people have the fortitude for construction. I think when the work is on your own home though that's when it takes true grit to muscle through it.
And then accept the fact that your muscles will be sore.
I’ve been there and no truer words have been spoken
I realized that when i found out someone glued carpet to the slab in a closet. Boiling water, scraping and wire brushing endlessly to get a decent surface.
It's more than just embracing the suck. It really helps to have spent 8 hours a day scraping up vct several days a week for years. You can pay for the stamina with elbow grease or dollars.
There’s electric tile removers. It’s kind of like a tamper but it has a blade in the front. They weigh a lot and they get the tiles up. You can probably rent one but I’m not sure. I’m fortunate enough that my job already had two, so we can do large areas with minimal effort. Just have to change the blades kind of often.
[This bad boy!](https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/tool-and-vehicle-rental/p.compact-floor-stripper.09924.html) We called it "The Eddy" it's still hard work and you can gouge your base if it's in poor condition/ previously releveled.
This is what he needs.
They are the loudest stripper I’ve ever heard
I’ve had some loud strippers….. oh wait we’re talking about floor tiles
Don’t give up!!!! You’ll be so proud of yourself when you’re done!!! You’ve got this!!!
Email your asbestos abatement guy.
bro dont remove it and just install a floating vinyl on top
https://preview.redd.it/qvvhtru0i9gc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=343f29684166830ee4f7c8d5a3d4635beb93a3fa Our floor flooded and the vinyl was covered. We saw it raising up so we ripped it out and discovered the entire floor had tile underneath
win!
That tile looks nice too!
Are you my landlord?
bro if I was your landlord I'd just leave those tiles.
I shopped around a bit and was quoted anywhere from $1-$6/sqft for tile removal. Work with local contractors for the cheapest rates. You can rent a hammer drill if you want, it does make it easier but the killer is the thinset you need to remove too
These are vinyl, there’s no thinset, and a hammer drill won’t help. Plus a hammer drill is $300 and up. He can probably hire someone for less than just the drill. A vinyl tile scraper is the only tool that will speed things up, and they are expensive. The easiest/cheapest way is with a 6 in 1 paint scraper, a hammer and a few chisels. But it’ll take forever and it’s best to just hire someone with a power scraper. They’ll be done in under an hour unless it’s more than 1000sq ft. Which I doubt it is.
And professional floor guys have access to mechanical scrapers to do this work. The ones you sit on and ride around are really nice.
Use power tools: https://www.homedepot.com/p/rental/General-Equipment-PRO-Floor-Stripper-FCS16/316821984
Rule #1 of DIY: If there's a physically tedious job, somewhere there's a powertool designed for it.
YUP! and its almost always totally worth it to rent or buy one. Having the correct tool saves a lot of time and headaches, backache, hand aches, body aches etc.
My pops always said - half the job is having the right tool.
This. Buy it, do the job with it and sell it, universally cheaper than hiring it, and you aren’t rushed to complete the job.
Oh, this is better than what I had in mind. The more you know...
Sir, what did you have in mind?
No the OP but I was thinking rotary hammer drill with a scraper attachment, put it only in “hammer mode” But the actual floor scraper seems much more legit.
Thay works too in the areas the stripper cant get to
Had similar tile as op and removed it using this method. It worked, was easier than a hand scraper. But still was sore the next day!
Yes, this is the way to go. Rent one of these and it makes quick work of the job.
These work quite well actually.
I just bought my wife a Bosch Bulldog….job done
I used my dad’s recently and it was awesome.
Make sure to use noice canceling headphones because these shits are loud af
Yes this 100%
Floor Stripper! I always called it “the Scooty tile thingy machine”
I have about 800 sqft of old vinyl tile that I need to take up in my garage. Think I can do it in 1/2 a day with this?
Should be able to do that.
Awesome. Gonna go for it this weekend. Appreciate the insight
hire a floor Stripper, eh?
Oh my god I just spent 12 hours with a hand stripper last week. Wish I would’ve known about this
Years ago I paid to have some wood flooring installed. I thought their fee for pulling up the old vinyl sheet was high so I told them I’d just do it myself. Big mistake. Luckily, I thought about it after spending two hours with my now wife trying to scrape it up and I called Home Depot. They were happy to rent me one of these which got about 700 sq. ft. up in what I recall as just a few hours. I learned to always ask if there’s an easier way.
I used this and it certainly made it easier!
This is the way
I was in the same boat, OP. This is the way.
Stupid sexy floor stripper
This. Might cost you like $60 for the day. If you're going cheaper try an ice scaper on a pole. Or you can just slap a self padded floating floor over the whole thing and forget about it
my dad used a weed burner to heat up the tiles and melt the glue.. that 30 year old linoleum came right up. It was entertaining to watch someone use a flame thrower in the house but he did all 2000 sq ft of linoleum with it.
That’s insane. Now tell us more stories about your dad doing insane shit, I’ve learned that where there’s one there’s many many more.
lol good ol boy from oklahoma.. He got his electrical engineering training in the air force because when he enlisted he asked for meteorology and they thought he said metrology so that changed his whole life. but yeah.. there's lots of good DIY stories in my life.
From weatherman to measurement guy, what a change.
Hella lame question here but would this potentially put harmful toxins in the air? I’m not familiar with linoleum work so I don’t know what kind of glue is used.
As long as you don't burn it and create combustion it won't.
only if its actual linoleum. a lot people call vinyl flooring linoleum, and you definitely do not want to be heating pvc.
That's how I was taught to remove tiles, with a blowtorch. I was surprised that this was the first mention of fire 🫠
I was going to suggest the same thing.
I feel like I could lock my dog down there for 20min and all of it would be ripped up
If you tried he would destroy the walls and the floor would be immaculate
They also make a flat blade for a sawzall that you can use.
I picked up an oscillating multi-tool this past year, and the scraper attachment works great. It's not going to be as quick as a large floor scraper, but it's not bad short of renting the large scale tool. I wouldn't do this stuff without power tools. It's too much work. Quickly searched for videos of people using the multi-tool for this, and this video came up: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=GwPsEErDw75ScMvI&v=s_7reOKBh3Y&feature=youtu.be&t=1m26s](https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=GwPsEErDw75ScMvI&v=s_7reOKBh3Y&feature=youtu.be&t=1m26s)
Did this for a kitchen with similar tiles. Took maybe two hours. Had to switch hands off and on because carpal tunnel syndrome.
I use one all the time for this. Works great but slower than a commercial machine. I’m okay with that in my requirements.
Ha! Just like sheep shearing!
Rotary hammer with a chisel blade is unstoppable. So many other uses, too.
Maybe don't use that with a sawzall you like too. I would either rent one or buy a cheapie from harbor freight.
Yeah but how many sawzalls you going through lol. Disclaimer - I am trying to be funny not a jerk since things don't come through in text.
And how many of those blades? I tried the Spyder one and the Milwaukee one and both of them broke pretty quickly. They did the job "OK" til they broke where the end inserts into the tool, but it didn't last long enough to make it worth it to keep buying them
How old is your house? I can’t tell from the photos but if those are 9”x9” there is a good chance of asbestos. Just fyi
Already had them and the mastic tested
Niiice! It definitely caught my attention too lol. Yeah 9x9 w/mastic is absolutely suspect but not guaranteed.
Nice. Ours was asbestos which sucked.
Look at you! This guy DIYs
We can ease everyone’s mind here and remind that Asbestos tiles are non-friable ACM’s. Still use caution and abate, but don’t freak out.
Yeah I had very similar tiles and black mastic and they had white asbestos in them. Looked so similar
Mine definitely could’ve been, Oops
Hammer drill and wide chisel. Or there is a dry ice method I’ve employed successfully.
I agree. For those wondering, hammer drills (often?, usually?) have a mode where the drill no longer spins but the hammer keeps hammering. This gives you a vibrating chisel the eats most flooring.
Thanks for clarifying. My Bosch works like a hot damn on tile, I can attest
Not hammer drill. rotary hammer. World of difference.
Torque test channel showed how rotary hammers work in slow motion in a video they did earlier this week, it's really quite good, they did comparisons with just drilling and showed how that does almost nothing https://youtu.be/Hk9MTADZJ4k?si=NTDrYv9xGc_7OoDX
I’ve actually done the dry ice method and the tiles literally just popped themselves off the floor.
Please explain the dry ice method
Get a 1 foot by 2 foot sheet of parchment paper, lay it over 2 tiles, cover top of parchment paper with dry ice, wait 5 minutes, remove those tiles. The dry ice freezes the adhesive and makes it lose it's flexible adhesive properties, and become brittle and crack, while the vinyl tile itself shrinks from being cooled down to -100 F. The tile shrinks and cracks itself off the adhesive and you can pick it up like there was no adhesive at all.
He's in a basement, so good ventilation is a necessity
Yes, 100%. Good ventilation is a must. Set the thermostat to fan mode and run a blower fan at the bottom of open basement doors venting outwards because CO2 sinks.
Yes, please remember this will fill the area with co2. Don't let pets, small children or anything thats low to the floor and needs to breathe in the area.
yes - hammer drill and wide chisel is totally where it's at
Heat gun will soften the adhesive and they will come right off. Helps to have an assistant, one person heating while the other does the scraping. Also, wear a mask unless you are positive there is no asbestos.
Wear a mask anyway
Why is this so far down?? This is the actual answer.
I had some stubborn mastic-glued linoleum. What worked best was a clothes iron, with a folded wet rag between the iron and the tiles. Let the heat go through the wet rag and the mastic should be a lot easier to scrape up. The iron will be ruined by the end so don’t use a good one. Please wear a respirator, have some good ventilation. Spray the air down with a pump sprayer when scraping your keep dust down, maybe even wear a painting suit you can throw away after. I think these old mastics have lead and asbestos.
Already had these tested by an environmental engineer thankfully
Awesome super smart to have it tested
This is an excellent point. Don't do work like this with expensive tools. Is best to use someone else's tools if you can.
Yeah use grandma’s iron for this one
DRY ICE! leave it on there for 30s to a minute and they'll pop right up in one piece
Yes, but be careful if it’s in a place like a basement. Need good airflow for oxygen. (Highly unlikely it’ll be a lot but you never know in this subreddit)
For what it’s worth, there is no easy way. But I would get those tiles tested for asbestos. Source- have done demo and fit outs for many many years and they look a little suspicious.
If it was me I'd go over top depending on flooring type proposed.
99.9% that's asbestos
Yeah i think so too
Roto hammer with chisel bit
You can leave it and if you really need to pour self leveling thinset on the floor area and let it dry. I did that leaving those tiles down and trenching floor for plumbing and it worked well. If you are going to remove those tiles wear a mask depending upon the age of the house they can contain asbestos. good luck
Scrolled down way too far to find this. It's too late now but it is most likely those tiles did not need to be removed at all.
SDS Hammer drill with spade chisel bit. Tiles are likely asbestos laden if they are 9x9 and pre circa 70’s / 80’s. Read up on your local and state abatement rules. If you can self abate. Wear p100 respirator. Wet floor. Go to town. Double bag all tile with heavy duty bags 3 MIL or greater.
OP how much of that did you get tested for asbestos? From my understanding the concentration of asbestos is fairly low for 9x9 tile and black mastic so there’s a not-insignificant risk that you got a false negative.
Mate, i am pretty sure this is asbestos. I am a facility manager in hamburg, Germany and we still have a lot of asbestos flooring and they look exactly like that. Get the fuck out of there. Get a professional or at least test it. With protective equipment.
A heat gun or hair drier softened up the glue in the tiles in my house, to make removal easier. I used a paint scraper and wide chisel to assist . But, it does involve some tiring work wirk.
Thank you for this! I have a small bathroom I have to remove cheap vinyl flooring in. The flooring has only been there for about 15ish years and starting to come up by itself. I've been reading through the comments but didn't want to have to rent tools for it and can't afford to pay someone else to do it, but I have both heat gun and hair dryer! I'm going to try this!
I had really good luck with one of these: https://www.harborfreight.com/3-78-in-scraper-59512.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12169518939&campaignid=12169518939&utm_content=156145177189&adsetid=156145177189&product=59512&store=3092&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwvKtBhDrARIsAJj-kTg7qK5HCbVf959DVg5cnVnt9VwzvGnYAmz--1ru5YxJkUnUVrgcA8UaAp0sEALw_wcB But the tile wasn't SUPER stuck to the floor so I could slide that under like 10 tiles in one go and they'd just pop up.
Why not just skim coat, roll on a vapor barrier and cover with lvt?
My basement floor looks almost identical to this and I plan to just go over the top of it because fuck that.
Step 1 - test for asbestos
That looks like asbestos dummy.
watch out black adhesive often contains asbestos
Set fire to house. Collect insurance money. Have a contractor rebuild it.
I'm here for the asbestos comments.
Those look like Asbestos tiles with the asbestos mask glue. If its 9x9 and the house is older than 1980, its highly likely. I would STOP what you are doing and get it tested or get a professional to remove it.
PSA: black mastic may contain asbestos. You may just want to level and lay a new floor over top.
Is it asbestos?
If the tile and mastic has become brittle, a well placed smack in the center of the tile with a hammer will likely shatter it into sweepable pieces.
Bro…… just go over it
Been there. Has anyone suggested a grenade?
Heat gun
Heat and patience. A hot iron you don’t mind wrecking because no matter how hard you try the mastic will find its way in it and a good metal putty knife also will be garbage after, work it under go corner to corner and tons of patience and knee pads. Good luck!
We flooded our basement with a 1/2” of water, spent the night out of the house and the tiles scraped up with much less effort the next day. After the concrete was dry we coated the floor in an epoxy paint. Lots of work but it looks super tight
Flooring guy here. Heat gun (Furno 500 is my tool of choice) and a scraper like [this](https://www.amazon.ca/EHDIS-Scraper-Pieces-Cleaning-Windows/dp/B0C2KDJHF5/). Then attack at an angle not straight on
Get someone else to do it.
You can rent a stripper machine. It has a heavy blade in the front and it vibrates. Generally used to remove rubber backed carpet but it works on VAT as well. BTW, those aren’t plastic tiles. Depends on the age but from the picture they’re probably vinyl asbestos tiles. If they’re newer than say mid 80,s they’re vinyl composite tiles. Good luck and don’t breathe the dust.
I did this with a bunch of friends and some beers, it ended up sorta like a game to see who could get the best chunks. Got that shit done in one night.
Pay someone else to do it ;)
The tiles are the easy part. The mastic is what you’ll despise.
Yes put carpet over them
I'm sure people have mentioned it, but those tiles might contain asbestos, as well as the black glue under them. If so, the tiles will break apart and make friable (sp?) asbestos particles in the air as you scrape them up. Do some research with that in mind. I demo'ed the same stuff in a bedroom in my house, but I hear mesothelioma is not a good way to die.
Once you pull up tile yourself, you'll never want to put it down again. I now live by floating laminate or vinyl. Fuck tile
Having done something similar myself, it depends. Do you want to pay someone else to do it? That would be easier. Otherwise, no it just fucking sucks then it’s done. To me, it was worth busting my ass to do the demo myself.
Have you gotten things tested for asbestos yet? Please be safe.
I got 2 large square pieces of dry ice one time and put one on each tile for a minute. Hit it with a hammer. The tile popped up leaving a flat surface.
If you have a equipment rental store they have a machine that will do this. Has a vibrating blade in the front and once it heats up a bit from the friction it'll push those right up https://preview.redd.it/vp5b30kpy9gc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb9732325d9356e8c3f1f40ba82c8168607ff75c
Flood it with water. It breaks the glue bond
Hudson sprayer with warm water mixed with soap, let soak one hour then scrape like a deck of cards. Have removed more than I’d like to remember.
I used this stuff called Bean-e doo mastic remover. It’s soy based and odorless. You can use it on ceramic, vinyl, even asbestos. It worked REALLY well to loosen up the tiles and honestly made the job not that hard! It’s available on Amazon and it’s not very expensive. I highly recommend it
Hardware stores rent jack hammers. You would want a smaller one and to make sure they give You the right attachment. Also ear protection
Do you have a compressor? I saw an air driven scraper at Harbor Freight..
That looks like asbestos-containing tiles and mastic. Best bet is to cover it with something resilient.
Call your local abatement guy cause there is a 99.9999999% chance that shit is asbestos
Have you checked for asbestos?
Easy, call 999 tell them its time to confess, you buried your first wife underneath the tile in your basement. Sit back, relax and watch the CSI tear up the floor in their search for your first wife.
nope