Vinyl Flooring Removal

It is common for people to factor in the cost of installation of their new deciding whether to purchase hardwood or vinyl flooring.  However, one factor that is commonly overlooked in the average consumer’s flooring equation is its removal. At some point flooring needs to be removed, no matter how durable it is. When this occurs, which is usually about every 7 to 10 years depending on the material, it be a truly pricey affair.

Let us consider the costs and labor involved in removing a variety of flooring types and decide how vinyl flooring fares in such an analysis.

Usually carpets are held in place by staples, glue, or simply by the weight of your furniture. Obviously, in the last instance, the least work in necessary, i.e., simply remove the furniture, pull it up by hand, and cart it off. In the case of staples the process can become rather tedious. Staples that have been in place, and walked on for years tend to get really wedged into the underfloor or baseboard. One of the best ways to remove them is to get a flathead screwdriver and simply nudge them up. Also, the back end or claw of a hammer can be used. If the staples are small, a screwdriver is probably good. If they are large, a hammer is your best bet. Now, depending on the surface area of your carpet and how frequent your installer stapled, this process can takes several hours, without considering the time and effort involved in carted the discarded carpet as well.

Hardwood flooring is probably the hardest type of flooring to remove. Many genuine hardwood floors are nailed in place, or secured with super strong wood glues. Either way, this can be tough. In the case of nails, the best option is to get heavy duty hammer and strike the wood around the nail until the head is exposed enough to pull it out with the back end of the hammer. Once a majority of the nails in a particular piece of wood are out, a crowbar can be used to jimmy the rest loose. This is labor intensive and can take days depending on how much wood needs to be removed. Many people hire professionals to install as well as remove hardwood flooring because it is generally the most expensive flooring option and people don’t want to destroy the materials they just paid to dollar for. In the case of wood glues, there are various thinning and removal agents which can be applied to the wood to loosen it. Once, slackened by these solutions, the wood can usually be pried up with a crowbar or screw driver and hammer combination.  Since these agents tend to be toxic and rather odorous, consumers usually hire a professional for this type of removal as well.

The process for removing bamboo and cork flooring is similar to that of hardwood, except cork tends to last a very long time and thus needs to be removed less commonly than its counterparts.

The removal process for laminate flooring is probably the easiest out of any flooring, save area carpets which can be simply picked up by hand. The majority of laminate floor products are manufacturing with a dur-a-lock like system. These systems employ a basic tongue and groove model that allows each piece of laminate flooring to lock into one another. This literally makes installation a “snap,” and therefore, also, removal. To take up laminate floor one simply has to go to the piece closest to the wall, which has a ¼ inch space between it and the wall. Use this space to allow enough slack to begin unlocking the first piece. Sometimes base moldings need to be temporarily lifted to allow a bit more room for the laminate planks to move. Once the first few pieces are out, simply unlocking the tongue from the groove frees each piece. The great thing about this is that you can remove a laminate floor without almost any damage too it. It can thus be reused again. This is great for people who are trying to sell and house who want to spiff up the floors and then take it to their new home with them.

Vinyl may not be the easiest flooring type to remove, but it is close. The bulk of vinyl floor products are installed by simply removing a wax sheet covering a sturdy adhesive applied on each tile. Once this is done one only has to set it down and press on it to secure its place. The adhesive used in vinyl is strong, but since the flooring kind of holds itself in place, and does not have to fight gravity, it’s not that strong. As a result, many people find they can simply start pulling up tiles by hand on after another. This takes a rather minimal amount of time because of the lack of resistance the adhesive possesses. In the case of a few particularly difficult tiles, the best option is to soak the floor in warm soapy water and let it sit for a few hours. This will usually do the trick. It is rare that someone pays to have their vinyl flooring uninstalled because the process is rather painless.

So, when looking into buying flooring, laminate and vinyl should be considered not just for their reasonable prices and handsome looks, but also for their ease of installation and removal.