PO Glue down vinyl removal

[DaveMc]

I'm digging into this new-to-us '05 Safari to see what I've gotten myself into and am a bit stumped on removing the PO's vinyl flooring. They glued it down, and it's not wanting to come up. I'm scraping it as best I can now, but am not sure if the final result is going to be covering this with a thin layer of plywood to smooth things back out again. I don't want to waste time scraping glue if I really need to cover it anyway to have a smooth floor.

I'm taking the trailer down to Bob Jones RV (after second guessing if I want to do this myself a couple times) so they can replace the flooring and fix a few areas of rotten subfloor. I'm trying to do what I can to save $$$ by removing old floor and a bit of the furniture.

Several searches haven't turned up much, but what I've found seems to suggest that the glue down floor screwed me...
Any help is much appreciated!!!

[Lumatic]

Try a hot air gun.

A floating wood floor would make the vinyl a non issue.

[Jim & Susan]

That glue is almost impossible to remove. You could try a sheet of luan over the top of it, then lay your new floor on that.

Or, as Luma suggested, a floating floor. Look at a class of flooring called LVT, or Luxury Vinyl Tile. It comes in a wide range of designs. Can look like stone, wood or traditional vinyl. Pretty good stuff.

Jim

[DaveMc]

Ah. You think it's possible to remove any loose area of Vinyl (which is maybe 12" around the walls), but leave the middle areas that are firmly glued down? Then make a laminate "click/lock" wood floor my choice for a new floor and install over the old floor. That may be a good idea considering the various things I've got working here... Thank you!!!!


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[DaveMc]

Thank you!!! I've pretty much settled on LVT based on a few threads I've read on flooring options. I'll get on researching the choices and methods with it. Thanks again for the help!!!


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[A W Warn]

Originally Posted by DaveMc

Ah. You think it's possible to remove any loose area of Vinyl (which is maybe 12" around the walls), but leave the middle areas that are firmly glued down? Then make a laminate "click/lock" wood floor my choice for a new floor and install over the old floor. That may be a good idea considering the various things I've got working here... Thank you!!!!


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Whatever you leave on the floor that is uneven can telegraph through the new floor and show. Get it smooth one way or the other.

[Silver Hawk]

Depends on the glue used by PO. If it's really old and hard, I've had good luck with beltsander - but some times it just heats it up to goo. But most times have used a heat gun like the gentleman above mentions - has usually worked great. Heat and scrape off with putty knife.
Have had problems putting underlayment down, than foam float, than flooring down on top of it because of height issues - refrigerator door, closet door, bath door, low pull out drawers, etc. Most trailers leave plenty of room - but several have been a pain (my present one). Check.

[fairtheewell]

I drove every strong emotion I have into chipping it off. I've got maybe two square feet left to finish. A heat gun makes it easier...

[DaveMc]

Thanks again, everyone! Looks like heat gun is what I'll do. The adhesive is (unfortunately) in pretty good shape. Nice and gummy in a lot of areas, the heat will get it loose enough to hopefully get the bulk of it gone. I like your approach, Fairtheewell! I kept telling myself today that there's a finite amount of square inches in this trailer, just take one at a time. Thanks again!!!!


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[fairtheewell]

Originally Posted by DaveMc

Thanks again, everyone! Looks like heat gun is what I'll do. The adhesive is (unfortunately) in pretty good shape. Nice and gummy in a lot of areas, the heat will get it loose enough to hopefully get the bulk of it gone. I like your approach, Fairtheewell! I kept telling myself today that there's a finite amount of square inches in this trailer, just take one at a time. Thanks again!!!!


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Welcome!

That's what I did. I also thought about how much work I had already put into this, how quitting isn't an option, that it will feel so good when I am done, how proud my Gramparents would be, that they had given up rolling horse cart tinkering to move to America so their only grand child could spend days peeling up 45 year old vinyl off a MODERN ROLLING TINKER VEHICLE. I may have at some point used language that was unbecoming a nice person. lol.

I used a fairly sharp flat head tile knife like thing and that worked better then any other tool. Good luck! You can totally do it!

[Tbeck11931]

Have you tried Citristrip orange stripper? Brush it on let it sit for a hour or two. Then scrape off with a putty knife. You can leave it on 24 hrs and let it do its magic. Home Depot has it by the gallon.
Thomas

[DaveMc]

Thank you! Wasn't sure if any type of chemical stripper would soak into the plywood and linger. Good to know it's a possibility!


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[Jekerrville]

If you can get your hands on a Fien brand tool, it will work wonders. There are now several other vendors of a similar tool type.

These tools work a "bit" blade in a small arc at a very fast cycle, back and forth.

A particular bit can be the same as a flat putty knife. This allows you to peal back the stickem very quickly and maintain the flatness of the floor. Also, the speed of motion heats the blade to help the process.

Be very sure to wear a filter mask! The particles of dust are not good to breath.

Hope this will make your task a little easier.

Lead on.

[JCWDCW]

I would also try a belt sander with 50 grit paper, if the glue is not still sticky...doesn't sound like it is from your description. If you leave too much pattern from the old glue, it may still show through the LVT over time.
JCW