subject: How To Remove Vinyl Flooring [print this page] Vinyl flooring is a durable and hardy form of flooring that lasts for quite long if maintained properly but of course not as long as a lifetime. At some point of time they are bound to be victims of wear and tear. Then they need to be replaced. Again some people prefer not to keep their floor looking the same for ages. They wish to be up-to-date with latest trends. So they would want to remodel their floor and remove the vinyl.
Materials that are to remove vinyl flooring are:
Utility or floor knife
A vacuum cleaner
Hair dryer or a heat gun
Soap water
A scraper
You can just use these instruments randomly. They need to follow a certain pattern and are to be done in a few steps. These sequences are enumerated below:
Shifting all the things of the room somewhere else would be the first work. You dont want your furniture and other stuffs to get damaged during the process. Moreover if the room is clear of everything it would make it more convenient to remove the vinyl floor.
Next step is to clear off the trims on the corners and the sides. If the trims are desired to be kept, they should be done very meticulously with the help of a flat headed screw driver. In case some nails come out they should be kept safely aside in a bowl or somewhere secured.
The vinyl might have been nailed, tacked or stapled. It is important to figure that out. Before doing any kind of removal work, these nails or staples or tacks are to be taken off by the help of a pry bar or even claw hammer and kept somewhere safely.
There should be a corner where the vinyl wouldnt be glued. Cut out vinyl strips from here, each strip approximately measuring 12 inches in width.
A scrapper should be used in areas where the adhesive is strong or it is very firmly glued to the floor.
If the adhesive is too strong then a soap water mixture can be useful too. If this is made to stand on the adhesive for a little time, it starts loosening it and makes the work with the scrapper easier.
If small portions of vinyl are still left on the floor, a vacuum cleaner could be used to pull out these by suction.
Heat can damage the floor under the vinyl flooring. So, heat from the heat gun or the hair dryer should be used in little amount for removing the stubborn patches of vinyl to let the adhesive weaken.
The floor should be cleaned by the vacuum cleaner again after all vinyl is removed.
If the floor was previously cleaned too much with wax, the vinyl wax too would be removed in the process. These are the convenient steps that tell you how to remove vinyl flooring. After removing vinyl flooring, the floor should be clearly checked for any kind of damage.
