Upstairs Kitchen Floor

The upstairs kitchen floor had vinyl tiles glued to the original hardwood floor.  We hoped to remove the vinyl tiles and restore the hardwood floor.

Wood floor with the vinyl tiles.

The vinyl tiles turned out to be very easy to remove.  The whole tiles popped off easily with a scraper.  So now were faced with the challenging task of removing the glue that was used to glue them to the wood floor.

Wood floor with the glue on it.

We first tried various chemicals such as mineral spirits and paint removers, but these didn't do anything to remove the glue.  Next we tried the Silent Paint Remover (an infrared heat gun) to soften and remove the glue, but once again this was very ineffective.  Next we tried a wallpaper steamer to try to soften the glue, and this seemed to be the most promising. It did soften the glue and allowed us to remove the glue where the wood floor was coated with polyurethane.  However, 95% of the floor was not coated with polyurethane, so this was not going to work.  We realized that the glue was not on top of the wood; it actually seeped into the wood floor.

We almost decided to remove the floor and install tile over it.  However, we came up with one last idea to try.  We used an electric block planer to take off the top layer of the wood floor.  This was very effective, and we were able to save the floor.

Wood floor after the block planer was used to remove the top layer of the wood.

In the corner of the kitchen there was a section of wood floor that needed to be removed and replaced.  That was under the refrigerator which leaked and attracted termites to the area.  So the wood floor in that area needed to be replaced.  Here you can compare the bare wood on which the block planer was used the wood with the glue on it side by side.

 

Termite damaged wood floor that needs replacing.