How to remove old Lino tiles?

[Helliecopter]

Can anyone help with ideas on how to shift old (50s?) Lino tiles?
Just lifted the carpet in the breakfast room in preparation for builders started on Monday and there they are, glued with something ridiculously strong!
What's the best way to lift them?

Thank you!

*starting - damn auto correct.

There is a product that will dissolved glue like that. Sorry I don't know the name but maybe a good hardware shop will know what you need. Its clear and I applied it with an old paint brush before scraping up the glue. I think it smelled quite solventy and was apparently quite expensive. HTH.

Some of the older vinyl floor tiles contain asbestos so it might be worth getting someone to look at the before you try to remove them.

Do they look like this?

Very similar yes. I've put a pic of them in my photos. Asbestos!

We tried everything, nothing worked. They were glued to old (beautiful) quarry tiles which I wanted to save. No such luck. Had to take the whole floor up.

We soaked ours with loads of water overnight, they mainly just came straight up then, prised the stubborn ones up with a big screwdriver and a wallpaper scraper.

Didn't know that they likely contained asbestos when we did that though

You could try heat to melt the glue, try a hair dryer. It worked on hours.

good luck

I couldn't say if they are asbestos ones but if they are then they will need to be removed by, and disposed of, by a licensed firm.

Afaik, they are quite safe to leave down. They only pose a risk when newly damaged. Lots and lots of houses have them in and also asbestos in the artex.

Hairdryer or cover with a few sheets of newspaper and iron them. Well ventilated room though in case of fumes

Need them up as we want to sand the floorboards so I'll get them investigated rather than let DH hack at them tomorrow!

I used a steam wallpaper remover but dudnt realise about the asbestos hoping that a but if exposure doesn't do any harm plus the possible asbestos I just removed this morning by accident

I've done a lot of web searching and rung a couple of companies.

Removal by a professional asbestos removing company will cost about £300 and half a day.

DIY isn't impossible if the room is well ventilated and DH wears a good mask. If sealed up they can be disposed of at the tip! Apparently they don't contain a lot of it at all, and the amount of time exposed to them is extremely short. Also, if they aren't friable (crumbly - I looked it up) then the chances of fibres escaping are virtually non-existent.

So, those of you who've done it shouldn't really be worried, I think, unless you sanded them off!

I am tempted to let DH have a go, see what he thinks. £300 vs long-term lung damage?!

You will need to seal up tge areas you aren't working on with polythene and strong gaffer tape. You also need a proper respirator mask, not just a dust mask. That said, I would think DIY still cheaper. I'd DIY.

I think they were comminly stuck down with mastic. No idea what removes that but Google should tell you.