Removing Old Stuck-on Linoleum

[Boris]

The house was built in 1978.

I am replacing the 48 year-old linoleum (non-asbestos) in a laundry room. The old linoleum was laid down with mastic to a wooden sub-floor. The sub- floor is not plywood, but I don't know what it is. It did not flake or peel as I pulled off the linoleum. The sub-floor is smooth, like it's masonite.

I pulled up, by hand, what I could of the old linoleum and some of it was attached so well to the sub-floor that much of the linoleum backing stayed attached to the sub-floor floor. Here's what's left:

A steel putty knife takes off some of the loosley held backing, but much of it will not budge.

How can I get this off?

If I lay down one-piece linoleum (6' x 7', and a perfect rectangle), I imagine I must get the old baoking off so as not to feel it later. If I can't get the backing off, does it make sense to pour a leveling compound? Or, I could hail down 1/16" plywood over the non-removed backing.

What are your opinions/thoughts?

TIA

[Snag]

Several things - That ain't "linoleum" it's vinyl flooring with a fair likelihood of asbestos in that backing paper . Don't breath the dust . The subfloor is particle board , don't let it get too wet . Get what is loose off , the rest can be floated out with a patching compound to feather the transitions so they're less obvious . They make razor blade scrapers meant for just this job of removing vinyl flooring backing , it takes a bit of skill to not hack up the subfloor too . Flooring installation is the reason my lower back hurts ... and cabinet making didn't do it any good .

[Clare Snyder]

I generally just peal the "underlay" or what you call the subfloor - the "masonite" off the subfloor - the planks or 5/8 or 3/4" plywood and lay new underlay - used to be luan plywiid - then they went to poplar plywood or masonite (hate that stuff) to provide a flat smooth base for the new linoleum or vinyl flooring. Adding another layer just complicates everything at transitions.

[Boris]

Boris [e-mail] wrote in news:XnsACEFCD1B7DE2Anospamnospaminvalid@144.76.35.252:

So here's how I did it.

I figured that about 2/3 of the 42 sq. ft. room still had the linoleum backing glued to the floor. I used a very hot heat gun to heat the leading edge of a patch of the backing, and when it got hot enough, I was able to slip a 3" putty knife under the leading edge. With the putty knife under the backing, I kept heating ahead of the putty knife, and all the while pushing when I could. Some times I'd take off 8 sq. in. or so, and sometimes less than a sq. in. The total job took about three hours.

[Dan Espen]

I did something like that with a bunch of glued down tile. Be prepared for your next electrical bill.

[gfretwell]

A 1440 watt heat gun (the biggest you can put a 5-15 plug on) is going to eat a little over 4KWH in 3 hours, assuming you never turned it off. I doubt you are going to notice an extra 50 or 60 cents on your bill.

[Boris]

Dan Espen [e-mail] wrote in news:s2vk65$lv9$ [e-mail]:

Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking the entire time.

[Boris]

[e-mail] wrote in news:mf175g5it0agqrtgd9f6501hcl1ivio3e4@

4ax.com:

My rates are a little higher, but looks like you're right when I do the math.

My electric costs composed of two type charges:

1) Delivery charges, by tier I always get into tier 2 @ $0.3144 per kWh, and

2) Generation charges $ 0.07761 per kWh

In total, I come up with about $1.67.

[trader_4]

And for anyone getting started on a project like this, first thing I would consider is why it's necessary to remove what is already there, instead of just going over it. Seems to me it would have been easier to just go over the old linoleum. Even if there were some bad spots, probably a lot easier to use some leveling compound on them if needed instead of creating a whole new big mess.

[Tekkie©]

On Tue, 16 Mar 2021 22:30:11 -0500, Snag posted for all of us to digest...

How are your knees? :O(

[Boris]

Snag <snag [e-mail] wrote in news:6Je4I.58797$ [e-mail]:

Well, no, it's definitely linoleum. There was a lot of it around the house. Lasts forever. There's no asbestos. I know what asbestos fibrous needles (acicular-like) look like. .

Correct. But in this laundry room, there was minor water damage at the threshhold between this room and hallway. I patched. After removing all linoleum and backing, floor is perfectly level, luckily. No floaring necessary.

.

Yeah, my son installed a floating laminate floor in his entire first floor, and said he'd never do it again because of stress on back.

and

[Snag]

Not as bad as they could have been . I specialized in sheet vinyl and hardwood installs . That's nowhere as hard on knees as bangin' that knee kicker to install carpet .