Laminate to Tile Installation Part 1

One of the first things I did upon closing on the purchase of the house was walk in, find a joint seam for the existing (and hideous) blue and white linoleum, and started ripping away.

Existing Floor Removal

One thing I would recommend to anyone about to embark on a flooring project, is to invest in a good pair of cushioned knee pads.... trust me

You can see the first rip (above left) by hand into the linoleum. The first night, I decided the extents of the new floor and using a sharp utility knife, scored lines at the doorways where the linoleum would remain. I then removed the shoe molding, but left the baseboards to allow easier access to the edges of the vinyl.Without much prep, I started the process of cutting slits into the linoleum, and rubbing it with warm water to loosen the adhesive, then pulling it by hand. At about 6 AM, I called it quits and realized that I was probably doing it wrong.

The next morning and after some research, I went to my the hardware store and after asking the "knowledgeable" staff, they pointed me towards a scraper very similar to this:

After several hours of sitting on the floor scraping, it still didn't make sense that it would take as long as it was, so after a few calls to some friends and relatives, and  another trip to the hardware store, I then purchased a stand up floor model scraper 

This model finally yielded the results i was looking for, and allowed me to bear my body weight into it. The hand model became useful for removing anything left behind by the big one; however, it is not the option to start with.

Very warm water, a brush, and a clean cloth were essential in cleaning the adhesive residue, left behind by the scraper, off the sub-floor.

It is important to fill/sand any gouges that may have been cause during the removal of the old flooring so the new vinyl tile does not sink or protrude at those points.

The sub-floor should look like this once the vinyl and all adhesive has been removed