Lifting Old Lino Tiles

[Tony Carnell]

Hi all,

2 questions in one really, and rather lengthy ones, so here goes...

We've got some lino tiles in our kitchen that were probably laid when the house was built in the mid 30's.

We've now knocked the kitchen and dining room together, and want to lift these old tiles so that the floor is level throughout the new kitchen/diner ready for us to lay a new floor surface.

Question 1

---------- Does anyone have any suggestions on how to lift these tiles? What ever adhesive was used is very strong and all the tiles just break as you try and lever them up. The adhesive itself is black in colour and leaves itself behind on the floorboards. It's an absolute nightmare! Could some sort of heat help? We've got a steam stripper with a large plate that is used to strip wallpaper. Could this help, or will it simply get the floorboards wet? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Question 2

---------- The new floor surface we're thinking of laying is a tile-effect laminate (Quick Step Quadra Tile) throughout the kitchen/diner and also the adjoining conservatory. Has anyone any experience of using laminate in an environment like this? We have a dog who likes running through the house and we're conscious of claw marks on the laminate. It says that the Quadra tiles are hard wearing, but how hard is hard?!

We had thought of using ceramic tiles, but they can't be laid on floorboards without first laying plywood to stabilise them, am I right? The conservatory floor is concrete however and so doesn't need this plywood laid, but since we wanted one seamless level throughout the laminate seemed the only option since it can be laid on a variety of flooring surfaces.

Again any advice or personal experiences are very helpful.

Thanks for getting this far, and I look forward to getting any advice.

Tony.

[Phil]

Lay over the old if you can - much easier, there are other ways of getting it level. If they really ARE that old they may have a significant asbestos content.

Phil.

[Christian McArdle]

Probably bitumen. Try using nitro-glycerine. If you can't find that, Semtex.

Christian.

[Christian McArdle]

Although ply is ideal, you may be able to lay onto floorboards, if they are level and don't flex too much. You would need something like Ardex Flex 7001 Timber System adhesive. Don't go with the laminate, it looks pretty tacky and your dogs will scratch it in no time.

Christian.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Find the gaps in the floorboards and use a stanley knife to cut through the tiles,lever up the floorboards and turn the floorboards over. The quickest and easiest method. ;-)

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Dang! that won't help even the level though. :-(

What you want is a roofers burner to apply some heat to the tiles whilst someone chisles them off as they go along using the widest paint stripper blade you can find.

[Bod]