At Anderson Innovations, your projects are our priority. When designing and manufacturing our floor scraping machines, we ensure that our customers get equipment that works for them. Floor removal jobs can be hard, especially if you need to remove glued down flooring, but it’s our mission to make them easier. Whether you’re working in a residential or commercial area, we’ve got the floor scrapers for the job.
How to remove glued down linoleum
If you don’t have a floor scraper on hand, linoleum can be a headache to remove glued down flooring. Fortunately, this material is generally installed by only gluing down the perimeter of the room. Before you begin removing it, you will want to verify if the backing material of the linoleum contains asbestos, which is relatively common in older flooring materials. If you are concerned that your linoleum might have asbestos, you can have it tested and then follow the correct protocols for removal or disposal of that material. To remove non-asbestos material by hand here are the main tools you’ll need:
- A utility knife
- A hand scraper
- A heat gun or wallpaper steamer
You can begin by cutting the linoleum into 12-15-inch strips with the utility knife to make the removal easier. After it’s in more manageable sections, pull up the linoleum, and then go back with the heat gun to peal up the bottom layer likely left behind along with the glue. Check out a full DIY article here.
Our ES 90 floor scraper can make the job to remove glued down flooring much easier since you won’t need to be on your hands and knees to remove the glued down material. You will still need to cut the linoleum into manageable strips before using the scraper to remove them. Typically, linoleum will be found over wood subfloors so you will need to keep the scraper blade from “diving” into the wood. You can do this by flipping the blade upside-down so that the bevel is resting against the floor, and then using the angle adjustment on the ES 90 to set the blade at the right angle to remove glued down flooring. If the material is particularly difficult to remove, or you have a large amount of material to remove, then we would suggest looking into our self-propelled Walk Behind Floor Scrapers or one of our smaller Ride On Floor Scrapers like the ES 1300.
How to remove glued down carpet
Removing glued down carpet is about as fun as it sounds, especially if you plan to do it by hand. If you’re ready to remove some glued down carpeting without a floor scraper, here are some things that you’ll need:
- Scraping tool
- Work gloves and knee pads
- Carpet claw
- Utility knife
The easiest way to get carpet up by hand is to first remove the baseboards so you can access the edges of the carpet. Then, start removing the flooring by cutting the carpet into manageable strips. The width of the strips will depend on how heavy the adhesive bond is between the carpet and the subfloor. Make the strips narrower if there is a heavy bond. Pull up the carpet beginning at the edges, and use the carpet claw (or pliers) to grip the carpet as you walk backward, pulling up the carpet. If the glue is particularly strong, you can have a helper on the other side using the hand scraper to shear the glue, which should make it easier for you to continue pulling it up. If your carpet is held down with tack strip check out a full DIY article to remove it here.
A floor scraper would cut this full-day job down exponentially, saving you time, energy, and literal backache. For larger residential spaces, the ES 200 or ES 400 are great machines for lifting up stubborn carpets. For Commercial jobs or large spaces, the ES 1300 or the ES 2000 would be your best option as they are much faster and more efficient than walk behind machines.
One major benefit of using a floor scraper to remove glued down carpet vs. doing it by hand is that you can use a self-scoring blade, so you no longer need to pre-cut the carpet into strips. A self-scoring blade will cut the carpet into strips while you remove it. The scraper will also do a good job removing glue while it removes the carpet which means you shouldn’t need to remove the glue in a separate step. However, even if you need to re-scape the floor to remove the glue the machine will do the work (not your back).
How to remove glued down vinyl flooring
Removing vinyl flooring is very similar to removing glued down linoleum, whether you are using a floor scraper or doing it by hand. If you are not interested in removing vinyl flooring by hand, then you might want to try one of our floor scrapers. Our walk-behind line is perfect for smaller areas as well as nooks and crannies. Ride-one floor scrapers are great for handling larger floor removal jobs in commercial spaces and larger homes. If you are not ready to buy a machine, contact us about renting one.
How to remove ceramic tile flooring
Removing tile? Don’t forget to wear your safety glasses. No matter how you’re removing tile, whether by hand or with a floor scraping machine, chips will fly everywhere. While the job will be much easier with a machine to do the work for you, it is still possible to remove it by hand. Some things you’ll need include:
- Angle grinder or oscillating tool
- Pry Bar
- Mallet
- Floor scraper
- Shop vac/broom
- Knee pads
- Safety glasses
You can find the whole article on removing ceramic tile flooring by hand here.
Using one our floor scrapers will make ceramic tile removal an astronomically easier process. we recommend our heavier duty, ride-on floor scrapers to handle the task of removing tile. The weight of the machine along with the torque makes them an excellent choice for this type of work. However, for smaller spaces and corners, our ES 400S in our walk-behind line has the power and tooling to get the job done.
To remove the flooring with our ride-on scrapers you will want to use a carbide blade. Set the slide plate low to the floor. Then raise the angle of the blade just enough to lift the front caster wheel off the ground and put pressure on the edge of the blade to get underneath the tile. In most scraping operations less blade angle is better. Too much blade angle makes removal inefficient and will cause your blade edge to dull faster. Also, frequent sharpening will help your job go run smoother. If you have a helper, keep them busy sharpening your carbide blades so that you have a constant supply of sharp blades to use.
Pro Tip: When using a walk-behind scraper to remove ceramic tile it will work better if you use a sledge hammer to fracture the tile, and then use a scraper to remove it. This will make it easier and faster for the machine to break the tiles and separate them from the mortar. This step is not needed when using ride-on scrapers.
Getting started with Anderson Innovations
Whether you’re in need of a floor scraper for your own personal or professional needs or you’re looking to become an Anderson Innovations distributor, contact us today to talk more about how we can help!
