By Bookbat
I have a house built in the early 60s. I want to remove the wall to wall carpet and use the vinyl tile flooring underneath. The pad was secured to the floor tiles with "squirts" of adhesive. The tack strips appear to have been glued down also. Is there any way to remove the tack strips and the adhesives without ruining the tiles underneath? The result doesn't need to be perfect, just functional.

 

Bookbat:

If that's a solvent based adhesive, then I think you simply can't do it. Prying up the tack strips is likely to ruin the tile wear layer, and the only solvent I know that will dissolve old solvent based glue (acetone) also dissolves vinyl.

Are the old tiles 9 inches square? Do they have a wear layer approx. 1/16" thick with a black paper layer under them approximately the same thickness? If so, you may be best off just removing the carpet AND the underlying tiles and putting whatever flooring you want down. I've removed a gazillion of these 9" square "linoleum" tiles, so named because they're built like old linoleum with a wear layer and paper backing. E-mail me direct for advice on how to proceed to remove the tiles or post again so everyone who's dying to know can share.