Help! How do I remove this stubborn tile floor?

[drewmo]

I'm in the process of gutting a small house for my in-laws, and need advice on removing a tiled floor. At some point in the last 15 to 20 years, some genius laid inch-thick particle board over linoleum, then tiled on top of the particle board. It does not appear the particle board is free floating, it looks like it is both glued and screwed into place. And only a portion of the house, what was the kitchen and small living room, was done like this, about 250 ft² in total. We want to reconfigure the house, so we need to make the floor level. Any suggestions on how to remove the tile/particle board without serious damage to the sub flooring? I don't care about the lino, but do so about what's underneath it. Is there a specific tool that might make things easier? A crow bar takes bite size pieces only, so I'm wondering if a wrecking bar with a wide spade would speed things up. I just see something like that getting hung up in the lino and possibly damaging underneath.

 

[rowerwet]

check at your local rental place, they have a machine that has a blade on the front and a motor that makes the blade push out and to chisel off the layers off flooring you want to remove, it can do some damage to the floor underneath but mostly just to the surface.

 

[fishingpol]

I believe the tool is called a scaler or a chisler. There is pneumatic version that commercial floor guys use to take up VCT floor tiles. Wide blade, vibrating action. Maybe a smaller version of a demolition hammer with a wide blade. Check box stores rentals, they may have them. Sometimes a spade shovel or a roofing shovel will get things up. Hopefully the work you are removing is not older stuff that could have asbestos in it. Be careful. Good luck. The tool is your friend.

 

[benjamin]

A couple of crowbars/flat bars usually works for me. You could try a roofing fork/potato fork/garden fork if you have one, but the new ones aren't sharp enough to work and it takes a lot of squares of shingles to get them sharp.

I wouldn't use the pneumatic scraper unless you want to pop the ceramic off to find and remove the screws. Using one on wood is like beating a tire with a hammer.

Just be thankful the particle board hasn't turned into mushroom food.

 

[gpcollen1]

Yep, just a big bar or two and some elbow grease. Depending on what happens to the subfloor, you may have to replace some of that, which is not a big deal.

 

[Sisu]

How old do you estimate the linoleum floor and house? Just be aware that linoleum up to the mid-1980s could have an asbestos backing which is highly friable. That might be the reason it was left there in the first place. There are labs that can you can send a sample to be tested. It is always better to know what you are dealing with.

 

[richg]

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