removing cork tiles - is there an easy(er) way?

One of these will help a bit, but it still ain't very easy:

No easy way. Just get one of those long handled scrapers and get to it. :((

Cheers - a long handled scraper should make for an easier life anyway. Last time I did it on my hands and knees, which didn't do my knees or back much good...

Jon

You could try burning/melting them? Might make a bit of mess of the room though.

Tom

A similar thread came up about a week ago. Someone suggested a steam iron on full melted the glue and made it much easier to lift them. I thought I wall paper steam might do a similar job. It's worth a shot I think.

I don't think cork melts, unless I'm misreading the post? And yeah, burning them would make quite a mess... Thanks for the ideas though; the fire option might be more tempting after the first couple of hours work ;)

Jon

Cheers Doozer, might give the iron a try...

Jon

I think it'd be a sure-fire way to knacker your steam iron or cover it in white-shirt-unfriendly gunk, so would be well worth hiring a wallpaper stripper to try this out!

You could rent one of these:

Alistair

Like the look of that big scraper thing :D not sure if I'd rather pay the 50 quid or put in the elbow grease, though - will see how it goes....

Jon

If steam works a good steam cleaner would be better than either of the above, I think.

Mary

It will do much more than help the knees and back; it transforms the scraping operation from a 'single-wrist' job to a 'two-arm' job - it's a whole new ball game. Similar benefit to simply adding a broom handle to a paint roller!

David

Thanks for all the suggestions...now I just have to get round to doing the work...

Jon

What's worse is that you reminded me of a few tiles on our doom box which have been lifting for years but won't leap off voluntarily.

Still, it will keep me off the streets ...

Mary

anyway.

I had the same problem, but with those old thick vinyl tiles. I used a carpet bolster and club hammer. This may be somewhat overkill for cork ;-)

Cheers,

Paul.