Removing vinyl from floorboards and laying tiles

[Andrew Gabriel]

Posting for a friend...

Bathroom floor is floorboards, with vinyl stuck down with some black glue. Want to take up the vinyl. Glue looks a bit like bitumen but it doesn't seem to soften with moderate heat. Tried flat bladed shovel, but that won't cut through the glue either. Any suggestions on getting it up?

This is preparatory for laying ceramic tiles. Could the tiles be laid directly on the vinyl with some type of bonding agent under the tile adhesive? The floorboards are apparently rock solid (they're on top of a solid 19th century brick vaulted celler ceiling). Can't afford extra height of screwing a layer of ply on top of the vinyl (will create a step).

[John Rumm]

Fein multimaster with an offset scraper blade in it.

[Lobster]

A grown-up scraper?

Does tend to snag in the surface fibres of the floorboards though, if they aren't pretty smooth.

David

[Andrew Gabriel]

Thanks for the suggestions. Aparently he persevered with an iron, getting it just hot enough not to melt the vinyl, and then it came up. It was stuck much harder just around the doorway where he was starting than it was over the rest of the room.