prep for tile floor removal
OK people. we finally getting down to business with our floor. For those who have removed vintage 8x8 asphalt tiles, please list your do's and don'ts, recommend tools and products for this endeavor. Please share you experiences and nightmares; Sqft removed, timeline, and how many people helping; Special clothes and safety gear.
I am taking four days for my wife and I to remove 1200 sqft of 50 year old asphalt tile, yes, it has 3-4% asbestos. I plan to use a long handle heavy duty metal scraper and a electric hand chisel when needed. I will use Franmar Beanee-Doo to remove the left over mastic and Franmar degreaser after removing mastic. We will follow DIY state guidelines for bagging and disposal.
We will install VCT over the cleaned slab. Your suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
I did our whole house except the living room, which was cork, by myself. Most of the tiles just popped right off easily, but I had a lot of areas with sheet linoleum over the tiles, which made it really hard. At minimum you should have:
- respirators with hepa filters, goggles too if you're really worried.
- good industrial waterproof gloves
- lots of the heaviest duty trash bags you can find. The tiles are heavy and tend to rip through, so you'll need to double bag them in smaller batches.
- old shoes or boots, especially for the Franmar stuff.
- your scraper
- mops, long-handled brushes and squeegees for applying and removing the bean-e-doo. These will be trashed afterwards.
- 5-gallon buckets with lids, for mastic disposal
Keep in mind that none of the material is harmful unless you break it apart and make dust. Try not to break the tiles. Avoid your electric chisel. I also kept the floors and tiles wet while working - the water prevents any dust you make from becoming airborne. The bean-e-doo is really messy and can splatter, so protect your walls with plastic sheets before you start. And of course, verify your local requirements on handling and disposal. (I wasn't allowed to transport my quantities - I had to hire a specialist.)
Good luck.
thanks George!
we are running into the same problem and I was curious to find out how things are progressing for you. The mastic seems resilient to everything we try and we don't want to get too agressive with it for fear of aerosolization.
