Quick Tips on How to Remove Vinyl Flooring

• This process can be dusty, dirty, and involves using hand tools like small pry bars, utility knives, and putty knives. We recommend wearing typical construction related PPE like safety glasses, dust mask and work gloves.

• To remove vinyl flooring when you won’t be reusing it start by removing any transitions. If you have a T molding, reducer or other transition this will give you easy access to a place to start removal. Pry up the transition piece to access the edge of the installed vinyl flooring and carefully begin pulling the planks and tile apart. Be careful of any installed baseboard, quarter round or shoe molding in the room as you’ll want to slide the flooring out from under it when you get close.

• If you do not have a transition to give you easy access to a starting point you can simply remove a section of baseboard or quarter round molding and start tearing up the vinyl flooring pieces. You should pick a wall that runs parallel to the direction of the installed planks or tiles so that when you remove the molding you will be able to access to edge of the vinyl piece for a whole row. If you will be reusing any of the molding that you need to remove, use a utility knife to carefully cut along caulked seams and then use a mix of small pry bars and putty knives to carefully separate the molding from the wall and other moldings.

• If you have a miter saw or flooring circular saw, consider cutting down planks and tiles to a size that can be easily boxed for transportation to the place you’ll be disposing of the flooring.

Removing vinyl planks or tiles that you or someone else will be reusing requires a bit more patience and care vs the process discussed above. You will need similar tools and PPE. This process will yield the least number of broken joints for your vinyl planks or tiles, but its not perfect. If you need to disassemble your vinyl flooring in a way that keeps every piece 100% perfect our recommendation is to hire a professional. A flooring professional has done this many times and can likely do the disassembly in a fast and careful manner.

If using a pro isn’t an option and you are ok with making some mistakes yourself then let’s proceed. Its best to start removing the vinyl planks and tiles on the longest wall that’s parallel to the direction the planks and tiles are installed in. If you have extra pieces of flooring that are not installed (often called “overage”) you can use a few to practice disassembly and reinstallation.

• Carefully remove the baseboard, quarter round or shoe molding along the wall to access the edge of the installed vinyl flooring. If you are reusing any of the molding pre-cut the caulked seams of the molding with a utility knife so it separates from the wall or other molding easier. Using a pry bar and one or more putty knives gently separate the molding in several areas making sure not to over bend or stress any parts of the molding. Focus on places where the molding is nailed in and gently begin to apply pressure to move the molding away from the wall.

• For this step view the video above for a demonstration on disconnecting the planks or tiles. Once you have a clear row of vinyl planks or tiles accessible then lift the full installed first row to disengage the longer edge of the vinyl planks or tiles. Depending on the size of your installation you may need one or more people to assist in lifting the row. Lifting the row from the wall edge side will allow you to disengage the long edge click lock.

• With the first row of planks or tiles disengaged move to the first short edge joint in the row. Using a hand on each tile to the left and right of the first joint, lift on the short end joint carefully. Carefully work the joint up and down to loosen the short edge of the plank or tile click lock. Please see the video below for a demonstration on loosening the short edge click lock. Once you have the joint loosen lay it back to flat. Place one hand firmly on the tile with groove side of the joint and hold it down. Grab the other tile with your other hand by the tongue side of the joint and slowly and steadily pull the tongue side plank or tile up to you. Done carefully this will separate the plank or tile without damaging either locking joint.

• If you will be re-installing the vinyl plank or tile flooring, then there are a few extra steps that can make your project easier. Take pictures before and during removal to best track what was done and in what order. Consider writing the position of the plank or tile on the back so you will know where it goes for re-installing. This can be done by using a number for the row and the piece. As an example, the fifth piece that you removed would be 1-5 or row 1 piece 5. This is especially important for cut pieces. Work clean. Make sure that before re-installation that all click and lock joints are free from debris.

• If during the removal process you break one or more locking mechanisms, you have three options. If you have overage from when the flooring was installed, you can simply grab a new box and replace the piece of flooring. If you do not have any overage from the original installation, you can consult the flooring manufacturer or place of purchase. Many times, the original seller of the flooring will have some cases held back for warranty issues. You may have to do some search engine detective work to find out who made it, but the juice may be worth the squeeze. If there is no hope of securing a replacement piece you can try to place a thin bead of glue on the joint and install as best as possible. Promptly clean off any visible excess adhesive and try to make sure the two glued together pieces are kept immobilized as long as is needed for the glue to cure. Click lock vinyl planks and tiles are a floating flooring product so it is not recommended to glue any of the pieces down to the subfloor.