How to remove glued on wood flooring

Question

My floor was water damaged in a 'flood' and the wood flooring doesn't want to come up  very easily.  It is glued to a concrete floor.  Any suggestions?

William · Answer

You don't say what kind of flood it was. Glued down flooring over concrete is a pain to remove. It can pull up some of the concrete with it and there would be left over glue you'd have to contend with. If the flooring is dry, level, and sound, you may be able to just sand and refinish it. You could install a floating snap lock laminate flooring over the existing floor. Self stick floor tiles are an option.

Rae · Answer

O sorry for your mess. What a pain! I am thinking I would probably try a good ol heat gun. If you don't think you can save any of your floor I would try this since you won't be out anything. Good luck

Cathy C · Answer

I might try a heavy duty, thicker blade, putty knife and a hammer to work my way down each board..... kind of cutting through the glue. a heat gun might help remove the remaining glue from the concrete

Teresa Martin · Answer

Try goo gone. Do a small test to make sure it doesn't interfere with varnish. Do NOT NOT use goof off. Goo Gone is safe on painted surface and even on carpet. Goof off will melt carpet.

Nancy · Answer

Try a hair dryer to melt glue

Bobbie Littlefield · Answer

Heat gun, chisel, scraper for lino, razor blade scraper, are all tools that I would use. Slow but sure it would come up. Then sand, etch with a good cleaner and rinse, rinse, rinse. Floor should then be able to take whatever you want on it. Check your recycle stores for some good prices on stuff (measure your area first!).

S Brown · Answer

Thanks all. Things we've already tried without much success / laborious efforts..(1 Blade scraper (2 compressor blade scraper (3 hammer / chisel (4 multi oscillating tool. In case anyone is wondering why I'm trying to pull up this floor, when it was water damaged it stayed soaking in water for a while leading to mold/mildew. I don't want to take any chances with my health so I'd rather stay with a concrete floor / floor rugs in case it happens again.

S Brown · Answer

It was pond / drainage pipe overflow...water had no place to go except inside...ugh

Bleu · Answer

Isopropyl alcohol will break the adhesion.  Then you can scrape it off.  I had to do this and thanks to my chemist grad son it worked really well.

S Brown · Answer

Thank you for the response but a question....is this AFTER I somehow remove the flooring or I can somehow pour on the floor or where I managed to break up some boards?

Sarah A. Victory · Answer

One flooring company had these flat spade like tools w/a long handle and used a lot of push behind it to get some flooring up for me. In my current house the flooring had very little glue underneath and came up easily. Mine was a concrete slab also where I live now. Good luck!

Gladys Nelson · Answer

spray WD40 I prayed it on tile and it came off.

Sandra Allen · Answer

I was on you side but yes...sometimes people don't think faster than they type.

S Brown · Answer

I've been provided a couple of options to try and thank everyone for your input. I've been unable to try them but I will ASAP. Thanks again

Kari Roberts · Answer

Rent a floor scraping machine at a flooring store.

Dawn · Answer

En electric loor scraper you can rent it.

S Brown · Answer

**Finally an update** First, thank you for all the suggestions. Secondly, short of cash (having lost my job), over several weekends using a maddox, hammer and chisel(s), and a floor scraper, we've managed to get up most of the flooring, including scraping up the commercial adhesive which was used to lay the floor. It took a little bit to realize the floor boards were interlocking. Once we found that, our approach was a little different...in other words, we were coming at it from the width side, not the length. Since the floor was laid with a commercial grade adhesive, which in some places was very thick, nothing seemed to work e.g. alcohol, water, etc...except just hard labor using a scraper. Its still not 100% up, but we've gotten the majority of it. We still have a small piece and some other boards under the trim but it's close to being completed.

Some of you may think we're crazy using a maddox, but at the right angle, we were able to get big chunks up without damaging the concrete.....it's all relative.....smiles. Thanks again!

How to remove glued on wood flooring

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How to remove glued on wood flooring

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