Removing vinyl and wood subfloor over hardwood

[KJS (WavyGlass)]

The black stuff looks like the old wax that was built up on our fir floors. I had good luck removing it two ways -- heat gun (came right up, but immediately restuck to putty knife) and liquid chemical stripper (also came right up, but was messy). Six of one, half dozen of the other. Both worked well. Either way, you end up refinishing the floor because when you try to hit that stuff with a floor sander it just goos up and destroys the sandpaper.

But you'll have some beautiful floors when you're done! Lucky you!

[christiner (WavyGlass)]

have you tried something in the water like vinegar and/or a spot of liquid soap? it looks fab!

[krawdon (WavyGlass)]

I did a little web research and found that it is likely tar paper - apparently it was often used as a vapor barrier when laying floor over hardwood. Blech!! It's apparently also a nightmare to be done. It seems like the two best methods are a) renting a wallpaper steamer and steaming it then scraping it by sections, or b) using a mixture of HOT water and vinegar, spraying down sections, then scraping. After lots of scraping, it will still need sanding. Which is a bit of a bummer because a) I only have a little mouse sander and b) I was hoping to retain the old finish so I wouldn't have to re-stain the floor - it may be hard to match the rest of the floor. But still: SO much more preferable to vinyl!

I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me!

[phil]

looks like you are doing well. try not to breathe the stuff underneath, might be asbestos in it.
If you got that much stripped already you are doing well. If it were me I'd try to do as you are doing, not strive to get every bit off, but most of it , so you can rent a drum sander, which will make short work of whatever is left. Just make sure you have good instruction before you run the drum sander, run it for even half a second without the machine moving and you'll have trench in the flooring. You might try it on a piece of plywood nailed down outside to get the feel of the machine, once you do, it will work well. start with finer grit than you need, you can always go the other way once you get the gunk off and have a feel for the machine.

[Texas_Ranger]

That's not tar paper, that's the adhesive used to hold an old vinyl floor down, the comb trowel marks give it away. The grey part is what was left of the vinyl once someone pulled it off. Both the vinyl remnants and the adhesive possibly contain asbestos and the adhesive probably contains other nasty chemicals (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). I don't think I'd want such a floor in my kitchen. You might want to have a sample tested!

[mjt]

You might want to have a sample tested!

Seconded!

We had various types of linoleum in our house when we moved in. We had it all tested before removing any of it.

Turns out the sheet linoleum in the study and the 12-inch tiles had no asbestos in the material or adhesive. The 9-inch tiles in two bedrooms did however...

[krawdon (WavyGlass)]

How would I go about getting it tested? There doesn't seem to be any of the linoleum left - it's just a wood subfloor with vinyl glued to it sitting on top of that paper stuff. That comes out in a chunk. But then the paper/adhesive is left... Is there a way to get that tested? If it doesn't contain adhesive, is it safe to remove myself? If it does contain asbestos and I remove it using a wet method and don't sand it, is that safer?

[Texas_Ranger]

How would I go about getting it tested? There doesn't seem to be any of the linoleum left - it's just a wood subfloor with vinyl glued to it sitting on top of that paper stuff. That comes out in a chunk. But then the paper/adhesive is left... Is there a way to get that tested? If it doesn't contain adhesive, is it safe to remove myself? If it does contain asbestos and I remove it using a wet method and don't sand it, is that safer?

I'm by no means an expert, but I'd wet-scrape a section of backing and adhesive and have that tested for both asbestos and PACs. Not sure how to proceed if the test results are positive though. Several German experts recently stated that saving a PAC contaminated floor is pretty much impossible and it has to be disposed of (PACs gas off even if you don't touch the floor).

[mjt]

How would I go about getting it tested?

We contacted a local asbestos testing company (our state's department of health licenses consultants and contractors and has a list of those who are licensed). They came out, took samples, and sent them to the lab. A week or so later we received the results along with recommendations including options for removal, abatement, or encapsulation, depending on the situation.

[Fanner (WavyGlass)]

I too look forward to watching your progress as we have the same situation on our kitchen. It is a high traffic area in a house with 5 kids, so I will probably be putting it off for a few more years.. please continue to update with progress and pictures!