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Like everything else in life difficult tasks take education, practice, patience. Replacing linoleum or vinyl sheet flooring is no exception. I have owned four different homes and have had to remove bathroom linoleum. Each time, I replaced the flooring because of water damage to the sub flooring.

In my first home, I did what most people would do, I attempted to remove the old flooring with a hand scraper, heat gun and elbow grease. It took nearly a week, sore knees and back and less than a satisfactory feeling. This was before the Internet so I was limited to trying to find out better methods through trial and error. I finally found one of my co-workers was a contractor and asked him what he would to do remove vinyl flooring and linoleum. He told me that a large scraper (it has a handle like a shovel and a wide flexible blade) available at most home improvement centers would make the job easier. On my next two jobs I used the scraper and had reasonable success, but still it was time consuming and difficult.

After scraping the old linoleum off I used very course sand paper to remove the old adhesive and would use my skill saw to cut out the damage section of underlayment. After cutting a new piece of underlayment I would install and fill the gap with a filler, sand it smooth and then lay my new linoleum.

Each time I have been faced with this job, I have cringed knowing the effort that I would have to put into the project. That was until my most recent bathroom remodel. While shopping at my local home improvement store I ran into a gentleman who gave me some advise that made the job unbelievably fast and easier than ever.

He asked if I had a skill saw and told me that he learned to just cut out the underlayment with the linoleum still on it. It sounded so simple I thought I would give it a try. I had been removing the underlayment with my saw in the past so I knew how to do it.

To prepare, I made sure to wear hearing and eye protection and a dust mask. I also opened the bathroom window and used plastic sheeting to seal off the door as I knew a lot of dust would be generated and that it might not be healthy.

I then set my saw depth at three quarters of an inch to start and cut out a small section to check the thickness of the underlayment. Once I had the depth correct, I merely cut as close to the wall all the way around the bathroom. I then cut the floor lengthwise so I could easily pry it up. In those areas where I couldn't connect the cuts, I used my reciprocating saw. It took about twenty minutes to cut the floor and pry up the old underlayment.

To replace the underlayment, I took craft paper and made a template of the floor and transferred that to a new sheet of underlayment. I then cut that in half to make putting it in easier, then filled the gap, sanded smooth and installed the new linoleum.

I have never had a linoleum job go this easy. What has easily taken a week in the past now only takes a couple of days from start to finish. As this bit of advise was so helpful to me, I hope it will make your project go easier.

Learn more about this author, Rick Rhodes.
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