Watch out for old tile adhesive under that vinyl plank
I pulled up some old sheet vinyl in a Phoenix kitchen last week and found a thick, dried layer of black cutback adhesive. I thought I could just scrape it, but that stuff was like rock. I spent over 8 hours with a 4-inch scraper and a heat gun just to get the floor flat enough for the LVP. Has anyone found a faster way to deal with that old mastic without damaging the subfloor?
My buddy learned that the hard way last year. He rented a floor sander for his old kitchen without testing the mastic first. The whole house smelled like hot dust for days. He ended up having to pay for a full asbestos abatement crew, which cost way more than the floor sander rental. He still gets nervous just talking about it.
Heard some guys swear by a floor scraper with replaceable carbide blades for that exact job. They claim it chews through old mastic way faster than a standard putty knife. Just gotta be careful not to gouge the wood underneath.