Removing Hard-to-Remove Linoleum Remnants

I am an architect in Milwaukee. I am on my second 80 year old bungalow. I am in the process of removing my second kitchen and hall way floors. I've tried most of the traditional methods, but today discovered the simplest, easiest and least costly process of removing linoleum and the tar paper backing and adhesive underneath them.

I've read most all the postings and can add my own two cents to the discussion.

1997: In my first home, I removed linoleum from the hallway by pulling it up. I then used heat gun to heat the adhesive and tar backing and scraped them off the hard wood floors. Very labor intensive and odorous.

In the kitchen of that house, there were two layers of flooring: a top layer of sheet vinyl with an underlayment and linoleum underneath that. We pulled up the sheet vinyl, pulled up the linoleum and scraped the tar paper backing and adhesive off the soft wood subfloor. Very labor intensive. It took forever. I was younger and stupid then. But it worked. Who knows what I breathed in when I scraped off the adhesive!

2007: With this kitchen floor, there was a layer of original linoleum covered with a 12 by 12 vinyl tile. I pulled up the vinyl tile and linoleum by hand, using a paint scraper to pull it up. I tried scraping the tar backing and adhesive, but decided I could not do that again. There had to be a better way.

I decided to try chemicals first. I bought Krud Kutter and also Jasco Adhesive Remover, both from Ace Hardware. I sprayed a 1 foot by 1 foot area with the the Krud Kutter and another with the Jasco Remover. Surprisingly the Krud Kutter worked better at removing the tar paper. It made it more pliable, but it still had to be scraped off with a lot of elbow grease. The Jasco worked less efficiently but seemed to soften more of the the adhesive than the Krud Kutter.

THE FINAL SOLUTION: I had removed wall paper from the walls in this room and cleaned the walls earlier in the day. Of course, lots of hot water managed to get on the perimeter of the floor at the walls. I noticed that this was surprisingly pliable. So, having read about boiling water in the forum, I put down an old bath towel folded in half on the tar paper. I then boiled a tea kettle full of water. I poured this on the towel and waited for it to cool. when I removed the towel, the tar paper and most of the adhesive wiped right up. It was a bit messy, but not too much so.

So, I decided that steaming the tar paper and adhesive would be the best choice. I went to Home Depot and rented a steamer for wall paper. It cost 20 dollars for 4 hours.

After warming up the steamer (about 25 minutes) I sat on a stool and laid the steamer applicator (which was about 8" x 12" on a section of flooring. I left it there for one minute to 90 seconds. Then moved it to another area to steam. The tar paper and adhesive scraped off the wood subfloor with NO effort. While the next section was steaming, I took a bucket with hot water and a heavy duty scotch-bright pad and scrubbed the area where the paper had just been removed, then wiped it up with a wet cloth.

In this manner, I removed the tar paper and adhesive from a soft wood sub floor in this area of the room (6' x 10' area) in less than 2 hours. It cost only 20 dollars for the steamer and little effort at all--in fact, if I scraped too hard I found that it would more likely damage the edges of the subfloor boards. I found it was best to pull the scraper towards me without a lot of pressure. The tar paper just peeled right off like wet paper towel.

So, having tried most of the methods described in the forum, the only method I would use is a wall paper steamer. I thought it would be messy and hard. I couldn't believe how easy it was.

Posted by: guest at November 24, 2007 11:56 PM

Thank you sooooooo much to the person who suggested using the wallpaper steamer. While I didn't have quite as good of luck with it as you did, I am not complaining at all! The tar came up immediately, just as though I were sweaping it off the floor. Thank you for saving me hours of tourturous work.

You rock!

Posted by: guest at January 13, 2008 8:00 PM

Yes, the Hot Water method works - we have a 1925 bungalow in the Twin Cities area, and after removing two layers of ceramic tile, and one layer of linoleum, we came across the seemingly rock hard adhesive used to glue the linoleum down.

Up until the steaming method, we were chiseling the crud off the maple floor, a very slow and tedious process.

Surprisingly, I had called a local flooring installer, and they recommended paint stripper, and working a small area at a time. They said it is an incredibly slow process.

Thanks again for the great tip.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 6:38 AM