removing plastic / vinyl floor tiles

Oldmanriver · Post by **Oldmanriver** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:55 am

I am in the process of fitting a new kitchen and I want to lay new floor tiles. The floor is concrete and it already has what looks like plastic or vinyl tiles laid. They look around circa 1980 something. They are very thin but boy are they stuck down good. When I try and remove them they either split into tiny brittle pieces or I end up taking a lump of the concrete base with them. At this rate it will take months to shift it all and then I would be left with a large uneven pock marked base which I would then have to level. Is there an easy way to get them up or would it be possible to lay new tiles straight on top as the old floor is already dead level and very solid? If overlaying is possible whats the best adhesive? Any advice gratefully received. Cheers.

chris_h · Post by **chris_h** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:42 am

In a previous house I put ceramic tiles on top of vinyl ones and it looked ok.
Not sure if it`s the done thing or not though

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:26 am

I took up some tiles like these. I used a hot air paint stripper gun to soften the plastic and glue and they came up easy with a wide bladed scraper. Heat takes the brittleness out so they do not break up and they just peel away. It does not take much heat to soften them so keep the gun moving.

Bal do an adhesive to go over tiles if you decide to leave them down. As tiles are always bleedin' cold I wonder if the plastic tile will form a degree of insulation????

DWD

Simon Site Manager · Post by **Simon Site Manager** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:30 am

Hi Oldmanriver,

You can hire a machine especially for this task.

S

leebwk · Post by **leebwk** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:58 pm

Hi,

A good garden spade will lift these as they are the old marley tiles the adhesive is usually black underneath and you will have to get the floor latexed before laying new tiles but i would definitely not tile over them, but thats my preference

Oldmanriver · Post by **Oldmanriver** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 3:28 pm

Thanks guys. I think I'll experiment a bit more to see what works best.

jozeffo · Post by **jozeffo** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:42 pm

I have done this before using a long handles thing called a big mutt similar to the one in the link below

http://www.brightontools.co.uk/Scripts/ ... roduct=549