Removal of seagrass floor covering

[Hamuketsu]

When we moved to our current house 12 years ago we had seagrass floor covering put down in our hallway, which is large and central to the house so gets a lot of traffic. It has done very well - tough and quite stain-resistant, but is now very scruffy and worn. I'd like to replace it. Asked a few suppliers of other types of flooring what they would recommend for removal, and they all sucked their teeth and said that it "can't be done" . Apparently the seagrass itself is straighforward to lift, but beneath it is an underlay that is stuck to the floor and "won't come off". The only option is to replace it with more seagrass - which apparently also "can't be done" as it's now out of fashion and there are no local suppliers. And no purveyor of carpet or wooden flooring can do anything for me until the underlay is gone.

I've lifted a corner and there is indeed an underlay that is stuck to the floor. But surely there is some way of getting it off? I can't find anything online and don't want to have at it myself without some sort of guidance. Has anyone got ideas or experience? The floor underneath is concrete, btw.

[wowfudge]

I imagine it won't be easy, will be time consuming and messy but can be done - especially from concrete rather than floorboards. Just one of those horrible jobs that you'll end up having to do yourself because no one wants to do it.

[Hamuketsu]

Sounds like it - I was thinking of a floor scraper or something. Fair enough if it has to be a DIY job, but I was a bit alarmed to be told that it wasn't possible at all!

[Twrch62]

If the right adhesives and drying times were used when originally fitted it should come up without too much trouble. It will leave the sub-floor VERY sticky though, sprinkle with talc will help stop your feet sticking to it.
Seagrass/sisal still very much available although the work of the devil as far as I'm concerned sounds like your suppliers don't know what they are doing. or don't want the job

[gobbin]

ANYTHING is possible with a house. It just may take time, effort, money, or all three!

[wowfudge]

I think that if you research what kind of adhesive was used - are the installers around and can you ask them what they used? Once you know that then you can look at the best way of removing it, which may be something like softening it then scraping it off. There may be a way of heating/softening the underlay which will make it easier to pull up complete with adhesive.