I had to refinish a kitchen floor covered with composition tiles, and the first order of business was to-pry off the old tiles. But the tiles were well adhered to the subfloor and tough to remove. Here’s how I solved the problem.
First I nailed together a simple plywood box with 12-in. inside dimensions, leaving the bottom open. Next I cut a hole in the top of the box to accept the nozzle of a hair dryer. As shown in the drawing, I put the box over a tile, turned on the dryer and let it heat up the tile for 30 seconds. This trick warmed up the tiles to the point where the glue began to soften while making the tiles pliable enough to lift off easily in one piece.
—Ron Strong, Berkeley, CA
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #84
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I've encountered this problem numerous times and this seems to be a good approach. May I suggest using a heat gun as it produces far more heat than a hair dryer. Also, the addition of vent holes around the bottom perimeter of the box will allow air to circulate providing more heat. Free-flowing air will reduce damaging back pressure on the appliance. Good idea, thanks for the sharing the tip.
Hi,
I endorse careful use of a heat gun with the vent holes. Many/most hair dryers have an over heating safety fuse or breaker near the end of the hair dryer nozzle. In some dryers this breaker will open and close. In others the fuse does not reset. The three ladies in my family provide the dryers, I have had the above problem when trying to dry something, in a confined space, a bit too aggressively.
It's important to keep the possibility of asbestos in mind- depending on the vintage of the installation, both the tile and the adhesive may contain asbestos. In my area there's an OSHA inspector who takes his job very seriously, which has been expensive for some contractors who weren't equally concerned.
For the record, heat guns and hair dryers put out comparable amounts of heat, because their amperage is comparable. Most stay just under 15 amps for obvious reasons. Most hair dryers are around 1800 watts, a few heat guns would require a 20A circuit.
The difference is that hair dryers push a lot more air, so it comes out cooler. The classic heat gun regulates temperature by restricting air flow.
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