Help! Removing tile floor from hardwood and what to do next

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BriSmi75

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I just bought a house a couple weeks ago that was built in 1965. I'm remodeling the kitchen by myself and wanted to replace the tile floor. When I pulled it up, I noticed that the original hardwood floors were under the tile. It appears that the current tile floor was installed after removing a previous tile floor, so there's two floors worth of remnants on the hardwood. I'm wanting to install a laminate floor over the hardwood, but I don't know how to proceed because all the stuff that was left behind after removing the tile. I have attached a couple pictures for everyone to see. I can still get up some of it with a lot of work, but I don't know if every bit will come up OR if that's totally necessary. Is there something I can do, like pouring a self-leveling cement over the floor to create a new, level surface? The original hardwood has been restored in the rest of the house, so I'm not that concerned with not saving it in the kitchen. Here are the current photos:

https://ibb.co/eGmYfR
https://ibb.co/dSPm0R

I'm trying to do this on a small budget and do everything myself, so I need some creativity!
 
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Can you see whats under it if you remove the registers?

I haven't tried - I'm currently at work. FYI this is a LOW BUDGET renovation so I'm not going to be able to do anything crazy!
 
I haven't tried - I'm currently at work. FYI this is a LOW BUDGET renovation so I'm not going to be able to do anything crazy!

I was thinking you might be better off to pull that floor add a thinner plywood and end up with a floor elevation that better matches the rest of the floor.

Have you tried just hitting straight down with a hammer to break it loose.
 
I was thinking you might be better off to pull that floor add a thinner plywood and end up with a floor elevation that better matches the rest of the floor.

Have you tried just hitting straight down with a hammer to break it loose.

There's a black, tar like substance that's covering a lot of the area that's not coming up. Some parts come up easier than others, but I wasn't getting super aggressive with it because I didn't know if I needed to get ALL of it up.. I hadn't thought about totally removing the floor, but that scares me a little...

could something be done like I mentioned with a self-leveling cement to fill the voids and smooth it or is that going to build it up too much? With the tile on top of the hardwood, the floor was already a little higher than the room next to it (they only meet in a doorway) so I was expecting that to be the case. Or would sanding remove it enough to do the job?
 
There's a black, tar like substance that's covering a lot of the area that's not coming up. Some parts come up easier than others, but I wasn't getting super aggressive with it because I didn't know if I needed to get ALL of it up.. I hadn't thought about totally removing the floor, but that scares me a little...

could something be done like I mentioned with a self-leveling cement to fill the voids and smooth it or is that going to build it up too much? With the tile on top of the hardwood, the floor was already a little higher than the room next to it (they only meet in a doorway) so I was expecting that to be the case. Or would sanding remove it enough to do the job?

The black tar is likely likely a mastic that often contains asbestos. Just to add more things to consider. Not sure how best to deal with it.
There are flooring pros that show up here.
 
The black tar is likely likely a mastic that often contains asbestos. Just to add more things to consider. Not sure how best to deal with it.
There are flooring pros that show up here.

I hope one will see this thread and help me come up with something!!
 
What neal is referring to in post #6, is cutback adhesive and there is a simple test to determine if you have that to deal with.

Apply a small quantity of boiling water to the black tar substance, and if it bubbles on top it's cutback and if it melts it, it is not cutback and contains no asbestos.

If you have cutback adhesive, the asbestos was used as a binder and there are chemicals available for its removal.

DO NOT sand it, as asbestos becomes dangerous to humans when it becomes friable, IE., airborne.

If you are not dealing with cutback and chose not to remove the hardwood there are disk sanders with attachments to shop vacuums available for rent.
 
What would happen if I just got it as clean as I could with scraping, it still had some remnants on it (but got rid of all the significant higher spots) and put down the underlayment for the laminate floor? Or even put a thin plywood down first?
 
Before you scrape it, make sure you do the test for cutback adhesive I described, because scraping and sanding are not appreciably different when it comes to friable.

Each laminate mfg. will have a recommendation for an underlayment material, and application method, and they will also not be significantly different.
 
Before you scrape it, make sure you do the test for cutback adhesive I described, because scraping and sanding are not appreciably different when it comes to friable.

Each laminate mfg. will have a recommendation for an underlayment material, and application method, and they will also not be significantly different.

So if it bubbles up then I need to order that Mast Away product to remove any of the mastic? There's not a lot of that there, it's mainly the remnants of and a thin layer of the thinset or whatever. Did you see the photos I uploaded?
 
My apologies, I should have said, if the water beads up, meaning floats on top and does not penetrate then you do have cutback adhesive.

Better safe than sorry.

Yes I saw the photos, and I can't, ethically, advise you to act in a manner not in your best interest.
 
My apologies, I should have said, if the water beads up, meaning floats on top and does not penetrate then you do have cutback adhesive.

Better safe than sorry.

Yes I saw the photos, and I can't, ethically, advise you to act in a manner not in your best interest.

Yea, I understand. Thanks for the help! Do you think I'm ok to still try and scrape/bust up the remaining thinset material that's on the floor and just avoid the black stuff for now? I'll do that water test this afternoon when I get home
 
Certainly.

Once you have it removed, walk the area. you're looking for squeaks and loose boards.

Hardwood was generally laid over 1X6 diagonal sheating and nails have a way of working loose.
 
OK, thanks. I'll probably be doing some stuff this weekend and will come back to post a reply. Some of the remaining materials (that's not the black mastic or whatever) is very difficult to get up..
 
It didn’t melt it.. great. Ok, so can I continue to remove the tile and then use that product to remove the mastic or is too dangerous to even continue with anything?
 
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