Flooring

PLEASE, do NOT attempt to use ANY combustible or flammable liquids, REGARDLESS of turning off [as suggested in answer one] pilot lights, thermostates, electricity, or any other attempts to prevent disaster by reducing potential ignition sources. In spite of eleminating all of these and other ignition sources, static electric or mechanical sparks cannot effectively be eliminated, so all the hazards of fire and/or explosion remain.j3h.

My way.. I took a bottle of propane and a large torch, of the kind used for roofing jobs, and I heated and softened the old tile, while two other people scraped. One ran a floor scraper under the soft tile, and the other guy (standing off to the side), scraped the debris out of our way as we went along. If we didn't do this frequently, then the debris would get reheated and start to smolder.

As easy as this way was, compared to chipping and scraping at the cold tile, it is still exhausting to do all that scraping, and you can get blisters, so we traded off a bit.

In a home, I don't know if I would try this method. We had to do a fairly large area in an unfurnished commercial building, and we had to finish that night.

We got the job finished in a very short amount of time. After that, all of the debris was taken out and placed in an area where there was no fire hazard and we all sat around and waited for an hour, talking, "just in case". The stuff was quite innocuous, though, and didn't really "want" to burn very badly. The little bit of smoke that was produced was very mild and tolerable. As I recall, linoleum tile was made of boiled linseed oil, talc, and sometimes asbestos (prior to 1960). So, you may be looking at some hazardous materials disposal guidelines and safety issues. If you are not sure, take a sample to a qualified expert to make sure there is no asbestos. As long as the material is not pulverized, and is in a 'non-friable' state, you have much less risk of handling, or even leaving it in, if you plan to floor over it.

Personally, I would not be inclined to cement tile down to linoleum flooring, although it can be done. My thinking is that the one weakness of linoleum is the glue and susceptibility to moisture. If you EVER get a leak in the roof, or the sink overflows, or the laundry standpipe trap fails you, you will possibly have your tile-on-tile coming up on you. The damage is usually localized, but repairs could be difficult and costly.

Now, A WORD OF WARNING! any time you're playing with fire, you should take special precautions, including having plenty of water and fire extinguishers available, safe apparel and someone there with a cell phone in case there is a problem. You may also need to pull a permit from the fire department.

But, you don't even have to use a torch or open flame to heat tiles. You could use an infrared heater, of the kind used for auto body work. The infrared wavelengths actually penetrate the material and heat it from the inside out. You could also use a heat gun, or even a hair blow dryer, although this would take considerably longer, but it could be done. The whole point is to get the tiles hot, in the safest way possible, and then get them up and off the floor. Naturally, you do not want to leave any heating equipment unattended, even for a short while. Many buildings have burned because everyone thought that someone else turned off the equipment before they all went home that night.

For the cautious, there is always the water method.. certainly much safer, but slower, and you will have to pay attention to risks of water staining and damage to surrounding areas. A "thirsty" material (hydrophilic) which holds water for a long time is the perfect choice for this job.

There is absolutely NO need to use solvents or petrochemicals or high VOC cleaners to remove or clean up after these tiles. Hot water will do a lot! A little glue will remain on the floor, but it should not matter, when you are trowelling on your adhesive for your ceramic tiles or your new linoleum tiles. Just remember that for linoleum, there must be absolutely NO particle of any small thing, or it will disfigure and damage the new floor when it begins to poke through (it will, trust me).

Good luck, and be careful!

Answer 5

I have similar problem but I want to glue down hardwood. Sheet vinyl has been glued down for about 40 years. (looks like crap by this time. Not knowing what to do I tried the scraper attachment for a reciprocating saw. Worked decent but broke 2 blades before finishing a 3'x4' area. Had already bought the roofer type torch and tried heating the glue after I scraped the vinyl off.Didn't work all that great as I was working alone. Then I found the answer that worked for me.

The Magic: Acetone. First use the blade on the reciprocating saw to remove the vinyl top. This is not a commercial but if you haven't seen the commercials they are made by Spyder and are available at Lowes, I don't know where else. My vinyl top came off pretty easy. Then pour a little acetone on a small area of the remaining glue. After setting a very short time, the clue scrapes off pretty easy. I am still using the blade on the recip saw to scrape. Obviously scrape the glue off before the acetone evaporates. I hope it works for you as well as it worked for me.

Regards.

Vacuum up what you can with the nozzle, not the beater bar!! The goal is to remove as much of this soot-residue as possible. Candle wax soot for instance is a bunch of unburnt petroleum products combined with carbonized particulate matter from the wick,it has some wax content.

((Using the beater bar at this stage will spread the soot onto the shafts of the polyester fibers, polyester/nylons are petro-chemicals too, so they will BIND.))

Now you may chose between cornstarch, talcum powder, or baking soda/powder. Sprinkle liberally, combining these wont help or hurt use whatever you have or whatever is cheapest.

They will work like a sponge to some degree and help absorb this carbon-soot residue.

Now repeat the first step and nozzle off the powders that you applied.

Reapply more powder, use a clean bathtub scrub brush, or an old toothbrush, make sure its rinsed and has no bleach. Lightly comb the top from the perimeter of the stain to the middle of the stain, only brush in the inward direction, be careful not to make circular scrubbing patterns or going back and forth.

Repeat this one more time.

Now you have a few options when it comes to the liquid portion, i recommend either true soda water, make sure it contains no sugar/corn-syrup, or vinegar and baking soda/powder paste. The whole point is the effervescent fizz.

Chem-dry makes a spray that can be bought at the retail level, it has rubbing alcohol, detergents and is carbonated like soda water. Use this if your lazy, or don't otherwise feel up to following my methods, it will only remove light soot stains.

Likewise you can add rubbing alcohol or use rubbing alcohol as a stand alone step.

Alternately you can purchase all sorts of low-cost brush in carpet cleaning powders, some might already have these at home.

The last thing you want to do with soot is to get it wet prior to the dry treatment, do all other procedures before proceeding to the wet methods.

TSP-Tri-sodium-phosphate can be used at any step of the process, i would say to use it at every step. Dont use the TSP type dish-powder just because its handy, this almost always contains BLEACH!!!, Bleach is very bad for carpet do not be stupid.

Lastly shampoo the carpet. I think a steamer is better, but that means either hiring a service or a rental for most people. I think a large percentage of Americans already own a carpet shampoo machine, the type with scrubbers.

For heavy soiling you can chose to repeat all steps above.

Clear glycerin and clear liquid based makeup removers those work too, its the propylene glycol, anti-freeze would work, but most of it is green or orange, and that wouldn't be good.

MEK, Methyl Ethyl Ketone is also a very good product that is a volatile solvent which may be used to remove all sorts of soots, soils resins, and grime.

Another option is to try "white gas", naphthalene is great for cleaning circus/carnival costumes of a delicate nature from all the soot caused by the open flames of the events.

This method works extremely well if you are very careful and make sure to use small amounts keeping the open container outside or far away from occupants. It works on removing all kinds of soot. Saftey is very important, my advice is to apply a small amount of "white gas" into a small metal tin, or plastic container, then cap the naptha back up, get 20-30 cotton balls and soak them equally.

We do not want to spill naphthalene in the home. DO NOT DO THIS NEAR ANY FLAME. Make sure all candles are extinguished prior, Keep this 10 or more feet from an old pilot light stove.

Open all doors and windows in the area where you will apply the solvent, try not to hover to long in the area. It will evaporate and the smell will be gone, so don't worry.

Take those solvent dipped cotton balls and start at the perimeter of the soot stain and work inward, just like i mentioned above when using powders.

This will usually work on most any soot stain as long as the soot is not also wet with water-based solvents/cleaners.

If you already got the stain wet with a water type solvent/cleaner, blot it up, fan dry it, then use the Naptha.

Kerosene can be used too, but make sure you get a pure grade of kerosene, follow the outside preparation in the procedure protocol that i gave for the "white gas" method, this time use only q-tips not cotton balls, when using kerosene it is very important to have lots of clean white rags to remove the kerosene.

Dry ice can be used too, dry ice is a very good solvent, but not always easy to find. I clean sooty leather and saddles with dry ice, its also good at removing human oils from leather items. Petro-oils can be removed with a dry ice method from leather boots as well.

If you have the availability of dry-cleaning solvents, the type used at a dry cleaners those are good too, but hard to come by if your not in the "loop"

They have spray solvents that are usually orange scented, or even orange oils that remove tar, gum, wax, adhesive, and glue, read the label and apply to your spot, and as always start from the perimeter and work towards the center without rubbing back and forth or making circular patterns.

Some soot stains can be best removed with WAX, you will need to use white paraffin wax and have an electric iron and paper bags to remove the wax but wax is a solvent and this is why it works, im not sure exactly who would chose this method first, but it is an option to try if all else fails, because more than likely if it is that bad you will either hire a restoration service or ditch the carpet.

I remove stains all the time from expensive outfits and costumes, especially war re-enactment uniforms, opera costumes, and film stage period pieces. My background is in art restoration and textile design.

(( my worst case was restoring a white 1920s silk and cotton lace wedding dress that , was once used on set in the 70's, only to have been sprayed with hot asphalt by a street crew,it was stored in that condition for over 20 years, it later became smoke damaged with a fire in a nearby prop room, and yes i got it back to white))

No! Under no condition should a wood floor be steamed mopped!

Wood is extremely prone to bubbling, swelling, and warping with exposure to water over time. There are products that state they are safe to use on "sealed" wood. The flaw in that statement is the idea that your entire floor is sealed.

If your floor is a prefinished floor as most are today, each board came separate. As you staple/nail them into place there is a small space left. The tops of the board are polyurethaned but the sides are not. As the steam is pressed into those spaces your floor will be permanently damaged in time.

A site finished floor where you have sanded bare wood and applied the polyurethane in your home has the same issue as above. Once the seasons change the boards begin to shrink in winter causing the polyurethaned to break in between each board. These spaces are not large and you many not be able to easily seem them while walking across. But these steam mops will allow water to make its way between the boards.

Regardless what a product states, do not use these on your floor. Bruce, Armstrong, Hartco, Tarkett, and Thomasville all state they void warranties on a floor that has water damaged caused by seam mops.

Please see attached link.

More Advice:

NO!

Hardwood can swell with the steam from the mop. Even if the top of the boards are polyurethaned the floor is still able to get wet.

As your floor expands and contracts with the humidity in the air, polyurethane will have tiny cracks in between each board. This allows water to make it way onto the floor.

No, a steam mop should never be used on a wood or laminate floor. The steam leaves to much water on the floor, even "sealed" wood flooring. Also, the humidity causes the wood to expand and then retract every time you use it.

Wood and laminate manufactures void your warranty if you do use and damage your floor with a steam mop. Surely a manufacture knows their product best!

NEVER, NEVER use any form of wateror steam to maintain wood flooring. Water and wood don't mix. Would you use a hand held steamer to clean your beautiful dining room wood table or a $ 50,000 Grand Piano? Of course not. Then why would you trust false advertising and use steam or water on your fabulous hardwood flooring? I agree with the other comments shown prior to mine. Please use floor cleaners recommended by the wood flooring mfrs. or finish mfrs. for those floors that are sanded and finished in your home.

I am using a portable steam mop and it works great on hardwood floor.

Yes, water do damage the hardwood floor but you need to use right steamer that do not leave much water on floor after cleaning.

Speaking as a professional contractor, It is very acceptable to use a steamer to clean your floors. Industrial steamers....no, handheld portables, yes. The species of wood doesn't really matter as much as the manufacturer's dedication to quality. A lot of manufacturers use an aluminum oxide coating on their products. Outdated products will use polyurethane but a lot of the newer products are a lot tougher; some weighing in at an astounding 35 year warranty. If i was running a multi million dollar company, I would make sure that my product could withstand such a trivial thing such as water. Companies provide cautionary advice as to go the extra mile; usually not because that the said product will actually do damage.