Any tips for removing hardwoods floors that are glued down?
 

I have engineered hardwood floors that are glued to the slab. I am going to replace with tile.

I am looking for techniques and tips on removing it. I already have the sawzall ready to go, but is there a better way?

Let me do it!


KT

Assuming the glue is a cement based one like one used for ceramic tiles.

Get a heavy hammer. About 2 pounds... The square type used by a brick layer.

Safety glasses and boots are an absolute must.

Sit on the floor and smash down on it. The glue will fracture and you'll soon be lifting the loose pieces of wood and glue.
Believe me I've tried everything to remove tiles or wood floors that have been glued down with cement based adhesive.
My method may sound crude but it works.

If it's gum based contact glue then your job is much easier. Just use a chisel (not sharp, like a metal wroking type) and hammer at the point the boards meet the floor and bang away.

I use a 5# hammer with a 3 foot flat bar.

The glue will not be cement based. It's a mastic.
It needs to be scraped up.
6" razor scarper.


KT

Little jacKhammer with a very wide blade at an angle worked well for us

Power scraper. YOu will be done in no time with your back intact by the end of the day.

pulling those wood flooring ishard, clean up the mastic thing is not easy but seem to be the easiest step. Do you think you have to cut or grind the concrete for thinset to bind? That is a lot mroe muscle work.

Get a circular saw, and set the blade 1/64 shy of the depth of the flooring. Dice it into very small rows, and have at it.

This is the only way to start. If you can get a power scraper to follow up, so much the better, but you will thank me if you do this. Once people try this, they never go back.

This. A thousand times, this!

They make a power scraper that you can rent at most tool rental stores. I cleared 2000 sq. ft. of commercial grade carpet glued to a concrete slab in two days when we were remodelling my office.

Oops sorry I just saw look 171 already made the recomendation. +1

Rented a Bosch electric jackhammer with a wide blade. Tough work, but the slab is ready to go for tile.

Looks like 4 more days with the jackhammer.

Pay someone else to do it.

I bought all of the right tools to demo my floors because I thought the contractors estimate was too high for that part of the work. Seemed easy enough to me at the time. I only made it about 20% through the demo because the glue down was pulling up ~1" of float from the slab in places. It was a total mess. I wound up having to pay someone to finish the demo and re-float the floor. Major PITA, and wound up costing me $1k more than the original demo estimate.

How many total square feet is the floor?


KT

Total square footage is 510. Half way done after 14 hours of work.

Wow, that should be a little more then half a day of work with a power scraper. How wide is this blade on the hammer?

Post some pics.

I'd like to see the slab.


I'll think you will need to use a chemical stripper to get the adhesive up.
The type you apply and then cover with clear plastic while the chemical lifts the glue.


KT

Wow, that should have been done in just a few hours.

I tried renting a fairly heavy duty power scraper today. Videos show these things tearing up linoleum and asbestos tiles with ease. Did it work on glued down wood, nope, not a dent the front blade would not get under the wood for anything. They used some strong glue when they put this floor down.

So it back to the jack hammer with a 5'' wide blade.

Pay someone else to do it already.

That is my go-to for all things demo.

Probably installed with Bostik's Best. I used it for my 1500 sq/ft install over concrete slab. My wood is there to stay...just as I paid for. ;)