apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I did this once and became super sick. Underneath the linoleum was some very old glued-on linoleum tile. I had to scrape it off - there was something in the glue that was toxic!! My building was most likely built around 1900 - an old funky-nasty tenement downtown. So beware!!!

We pulled our carpets up and painted the subflooring a neutral color. It's really not ideal. The spaces between the boards are really wide and garbage gets in there. We spackled, but that was very time consuming. Also, In many places there's a kind of ugly line where the carpet line used to be on the walls and mouldings. I would imagine that the same thing could happen with linoleum.

I've also pulled up linoleum - twice. I don't think I would ever do it again. There are so many options for floating flooring out there - many are really economical. Unless you're really a glutton for punishment, or have no social life or something I think these floors really offer more bang for the buck.

I have some pretty hideous brown-and-gold-stone-pattern-70s-throw-up linoleum in my bathroom (looks especially nice with the light pink wall tile - what?). But it's a rental so tearing up the lovely floor wasn't an option. I put down Flor's Fedora in charcoal wall-to-wall and it's a completely stunning makeover. The vinyl backing to Flor should keep it from getting mildew-y, and worse-case-scenario I can replace the tiles that get yucky after a while. Wholeheartedly recommend this.

you are sceptical for very good reason. you never know WHAT you'll find under you unsightly linoleum. it could be worse then you have it now. ones i rented an apartment and suspected that there were a hardwood floor under the carpet and linoleum. And it was fir wood, wide plank floor i restored myself in the living room. However in the kitchen, linoleum was clued down with some sort of black tar, which was impossible to remove. under the tar there was sub board plywood with a million nail heads ... i wished i had my old nasty linoleum back....

I pulled up linoleum recently--a kitchen's and bathroom's worth--and it was pretty easy. I do think it was less than 20 years old, and there weren't layers of anything under it, just a subfloor. So maybe if you know a little bit about the condition of what's under yours, you could decide whether to tackle it or not.

you should be careful using boiling water as a means to remove linoleum flooring. if it glued to the plywood subfloor, you could easily be pouring water into your neighbors ceiling! use the tried and true scraper elbow grease you lazies...

Older linoleum (well, not really linoleum, but I guess you're not just referring to flooring made from linseed oil) can have asbestos in it, so I would get mine tested before I messed around with it.

regards,
trillium

Peel back a corner to see what's underneath. I once removed linoleum from a small kitchenette with no problem. But then I tried it in another apartment and found the black tar disasters others describe here.

In a pinch, you can always put black-and-white tiles (or Flor, or something else to your liking) on top.

I pulled up the linoleum in the kitchen in a 70 year old house and found the black tar that others mention. I soaked it with wallpaper remover, and used a scraper to get it off. My sister has been doing the same thing in the house she's in, and she found a citrus-based paint stripper that has worked even better.

I sanded and polyurethaned it myself at first, but later I had it done professionally.

It wasn't that difficult to do and the results were fantastic.
The subfloor was a warm golden color and it was a huge selling point, when I sold the house.

If you started to do it and it didn't work out, you could still resort to one of the floating floors or other solution as listed above.

Depending on the age of your place, check for asbestos. Seriously- ours had it three layers down in the glue.

Also check what's under there in several places before starting. Some places have big patches of plywood filling up old holes.