Removing Vinyl floor tiles

[Pedge]

I've just started to remove old vinyl floor tiles in the kitchen with a hammer and wall scraper as a bolster is a bit too thick to get under the tiles. Is there a better method to doing this or am I going at the best possible way? The other thing I need to get rid of is a black type of material which looks like tar but is most probably adhesive stuck to the concrete floor. Any suggestions?

In a way I should have listened to a mate and got the lock in laminate flooring which looks like floor tiles but I prefer ceramic tiles although the work has made me sweat a few litres this morning.

[Pedge]

Pedge wrote in news:4270c374$0$557$ [e-mail]:

Actually, looking at the way these tiles are coming off i'm not sure if they are vinyl as these just chip off in small bits when hitting them with the hammer and wall scraper.

[Alan]

I've found a flat scraper and a heat gun work best for getting these tiles up - heat the area you're trying to lift, and as soon as you've got the edge up heat from underneath and they should peel away quite easily.

[Chris Bacon]

Probably vinyl asbestos on bitumen adhesive on latex levelling compound on concrete. You can get a tool to remove these, which looks like a big single-sided razor blade (8" wide! but not so sharp!) on a long handle like a broom handle. Go to a BM such as Jewson to get one. You just push it under them & they come off eventually. Try and not dig into the levelling compound, if it's there (a sort of soft cementy sort of stuff). You won't be able to get the black off.

[rrh]

I believe an SDS chisel with tile-removing blade is intended for ceramic tiles but I have also found it a good way to lift firmly stuck down thick vinyl ones.

[David Lang]

Hi

That's the way they strip the old tiles in places like B&Q stores when they replace a floor. Big flame gun & a long handled scraper.

Dave