[Shop-talk] Floor scraper...but it's not that easy

[Pat Horne]

One other thing. Larger rental companies and some flooring suppliers will rent
you a power floor scraper. I used one on a floor that was covered with glued
down rubber sheet. It was a lot easier than working by hand and it cut out
strips about a foot wide so it should work fine on VCT. The blade shuttles
back and forth, cutting into the mastic.



Peace,

Pat



From: Scott Hall [mailto:scott.hall.personal at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2015 4:17 PM
To: Pat Horne
Cc: Shop-talk at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Floor scraper...but it's not that easy



I'll measure it to be sure, but this stuff is about 12 inches square, and it
looks like the mid-'80s stuff my mom had in her kitchen. The stuff on top
looks like 1990s era stuff. Also about a foot square.



On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 3:29 PM, Pat Horne <pat at hornesystemstx.com> wrote:

As was mentioned, beware of asbestos tile. The easiest way to identify it is
that asbestos tile us usually 8" or 9" size, where vinyl is usually 12"
tile.

Peace,
Pat


-----Original Message-----
From: Shop-talk [mailto:shop-talk-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Scott
Hall
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2015 1:02 PM
To: Shop-talk at autox.team.net
Subject: [Shop-talk] Floor scraper...but it's not that easy

So, the garage had part of the floor covered with vinyl tile.

No sweat. Bought a floor scraper from Harbor Freight. Nice tool. Very sharp,
thick blade on the end of a pole. Good for smooth concrete subfloors.

Now I'm moving to the bathroom, which isn't over a slab--it's hung off the
side of the building over a crawlspace. Which means a wood subfloor.

The scraper is too sharp. The vinyl tile is at least two layers deep (they
just tiled over the old tile) and it flexes. So running the scraper over it,
it either bites into the tile and binds up (it can't bear against the rigid
concrete subfloor), or it bites into the wood floor itself.

I need...a dull(er) scraper. Maybe. Something I can lever under the tile
that won't bite into the wood or tile. Or do I just need something else?
Or...how can I remove vinyl tile from a wood subfloor? The tile is so old
that it's disintegrating and I can't pull it up a tile at a time. But it's
also too crumble-y to try to get a piece at a time--it's take months just to
do the 10-by-6 area.

Looking for advice--the garage mahal has a bathroom, and it's going to be
awesome. As soon as I get this vinyl tile up.

Scott

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