How To Remove Glue From Engineered Hardwood Flooring

Remove Glue Down Hardwood Floors

Tearing up hardwood floors that have been glued directly to concrete will be an extremely messy and labor intensive task. Video on this page However a number of factors will come into play in determining how difficult the project will be. A few include:

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USA Made hardwood floors

How Well It Was Originally Installed

Do information technology yourself installations will be the easiest to remove, due to not plenty or wrong adhesives used. Installed by proficient professionals? Expect a removal nightmare.

What Type Was Originally Installed

Kerf cuts

Some are easier than others to rip out. Foam backed parquet, popular in the eighties will be the easiest. On the other hand, products that were manufactured with multiple relief or kerf cuts on the backside (shown in example to the right) will take far longer to pull up and tin be extremely troublesome. The case shows cuts but an inch apart.

The cleanliness of the subfloor - Ones that weren't prepped will be easier to remove.

Okay..But How Long Volition Information technology Take?

Unless yous should happen to hire the services of companies that specialize in flooring removal, program on ten square feet per hr as a loftier guesstimate. National and local companies today generally charge betwixt $ 2.50 and $ three.fifty per square foot. Our numbers are based on a task I handled personally in 2004. More specifics.

The job case is a straight glue downward of a Harris-Tarkett engineered iii/viii" product on concrete. This chore may prove to over exaggerate the bodily time you may encounter, considering I installed the same flooring correctly 1 year before with Bostiks EFA (engineered flooring adhesive) adhesive. Removal was required due to water harm.

I Called The Local Labor Pool

The numbers came in like this; 85 full human being hours to remove hardwood and agglutinative that was left backside. The figure in your instance could be higher or lower. In general, expect near x square feet per hr working at a good pace. This includes complete removal with a smooth, make clean concrete slab ready for re-installation of a new floor.

Finding temporary labor from local sources is probably the best thought if y'all tin can't locate a specialized service. That'south what I did in this case, but I'll warn you..the same guys won't exist back the next day! Having used temporary labor a six times for tear ups over the years, these guys know how hard the piece of work is and avert it. Still, this was a time when work was plentiful.

Tools Used And The Actual Tear Out

To make matters easier y'all'll need to cut the areas in Set blade depth one foot sections with a skill (round) saw. Find the thickness of the flooring and set the bract depth where it will barely hit the physical. Please do these adjustments when the power string is removed from outlets. It'south of import your cuts go through the hardwood completely. Not doing so will prolong the chore as we desire sizable sections to come up rather than in splinters. Some glue down wood floors are easier to remove than others. I've institute those that were installed in the earlier days (1970'south) of glue down flooring to be the hardest due to the types of adhesives that were used.

Where To Start?

In well-nigh cases, only not all, removal is easiest from the natural language side of the installation. Yea, I know that's all fine and dandy but you probably have no idea where that is. Expect for a full width board along a parallel wall line. For about gum downward installations the natural language direction of the installation will be facing the wall. Generally this is where the original installation started, opposed to an opposite wall line that may have a partial board width.

Having set the blade for the depth of the flooring, cutting a line about xv-18" away from the wall itself across the entire room. Try to keep the cut in the seams Pry bar lines. One time done, repeat with some other cut in another seam. This volition go our starter expanse for the tear out. Finally, make perpendicular cuts every 12-15" beyond the starter area to each wall line.

For engineered hardwoods that have numerous relief cuts on the behind of the material, sectional cuts may have to exist closer. Rather than twelve to 15 inches, four to half dozen may piece of work ameliorate. Approximately 12 inches is shown in the correct.

Tools Needed?

The heavier the hammer or sledge the better. I constitute three pound mini sledges to piece of work best. A common pry bar will piece of work to get under the flooring after a few hard whacks. The play a joke on is trying to remove in sections and not chunks. Information technology'southward important when making the round saw Scrape away buffer attachment cuts y'all get entirely through the flooring. Blades volition deadening quickly. I used three on this job.

Flooring scrapers after the hardwood is removed would be the next step. Depending on how slick the surface is will dictate how long this should take. This slab had a good shine surface making scraping much easier.

With some adhesives, hand scraping may non be very constructive. Machines are bachelor that can remove most adhesives. If you're Large floor removal machine looking, try a specialty rental center and ask for an attachment that goes on the bottom of a buffing machine. Shown above is the scrape away rotary scraper.

NOTES: Y'all may also desire to check out removing ceramic tile. There I discuss the option of hiring a specialized visitor that deals with removing floors by mechanical means where job time, mess, and inconvenience is cutting dramatically. Costs on average runs about $ 3.00 per square foot, but volition depend on your location.

December of 2022: Glue down removal on concrete in Naples, Florida. On this job approximately 900 foursquare anxiety was removed in less than 8 hours.

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View The Video

New engineered floors

Encounter proper methods of gluing down engineered hardwood floors on concrete.

Water Damaged or Flooded Floors

I know what you may be thinking; it'south been sitting in one foot of water for a week, the glue must be loosening. Sorry folks, not going to happen because most adhesives work every bit a moisture barrier. It's impervious. That is unless the installer mentioned above didn't practice the job properly. See more on water damged hardwood floors.

When Tin I Reinstall New Floors?

Once everything is removed and a make clean concrete slab is seen, information technology volition depend on a few factors. Naturally the original crusade has to exist fixed. Plus a proper dry out time is needed and then moisture levels in the concrete itself are back to satisfactory levels. See more than on moisture testing.

Video Transcript

Most floor removal projects like this 900 square foot water Video transcript damage job can have upwards of five days to remove manually fifty-fifty with an ground forces of guys working the chore every bit we analyze in the web page you're viewing. Why mess with all that aggravation when we can have it washed in less than 8 hours at the same toll.

That'due south what this Naples Florida homeowner decided to do.

Serious equipment? This behemoth speaks for itself, and look, it can climb gentle rises or smaller stairs and fit through the narrowest of doorways too. It'south battery operated and quiet different the guys that will exist running saws on a transmission job. Best of all, information technology raises very little grit only protecting sensitive areas that should exist considered.

One time a starting area is chiseled out it'due south all virtually the brute force this machine produces. Information technology'due south a footling tiresome to start, just once information technology creates an opening and information technology tin get at the hardwood in a perpendicular direction, say goodnight Irene to this solid hardwood glue down. It won't happen all the time, but the glue was coming upwardly with the hardwood, cut more than fourth dimension on this task in getting a clean glue free surface for the re-installation.

Let'south hear what the homeowner has to say…and folks…this is not rehearsed.

"Well Dave. Information technology's really quite impressive. It'southward been 30 minutes that yous removed all of this? I had several demo crews come in here and expect at this floor, tell me it was going to take v or half-dozen days to get this floor up."