glue on wood floor

[Cindy]

Hello, I just bought my first house and I want to fix a few things. To start with, I have linoleum on my livingroom floor that I want to get rid of, but the crap is glued down. Is there any way to remove it (and the glue) without damaging the hardwood floor?

Cindy

[Don Phillipson]

You may need to rethink . . .

1. What sort of floor do you want to have? (We know only that you dislike lino and there is wood underneath.
2. What is the wood floor actually made of (and how fastened?) Before deciding how to remove the glue (e.g. choosing between sanding overall or trying a solvent, likely to stain the wood) you need to think as far ahead as #1, which governs whether you refinish the existing wood or cover it with something else.

[PipeDown]

To remove the linoleum is a matter of scraping. Use of a heat gun beforehand will usually soften the glue but not always. Careful hand scraping as opposed to a 6 foot scraper will minimize damage to the wood floor.

Removing the adhesive is going to be a lot harder. Straight sanding will clog the paper in no time and as the other poster pointed out, solvents can stain the wood.

If you're lucky, there is a good layer of polyurethane between the wood and the glue, this will help keep the solvent from soaking in.

I would start by trying some more eco friendly solvents like "goo gone" or goof off" or one of the orange based solvents. If that didn't work, I might try denatured alcohol. Acetone would probably soften most adhesives but it evaporates too quickly to be very useful. Try mineral spirits or paint remover but try anything in a small area before you commit.

Even after you get most of it up, you will still probably need to go through the whole sanding regime to get a good finish and appearance.

Now is when you consider overlaying the whole thing with a nice new laminated wood floor or if budget constrained, wall to wall carpet. Neither of these necessitate removing the old lino.