Anybody know how to get reaaalllyyy old paper-under-linoleum off a wood subfloor?

[MorningGlow]

Hello house gurus! Here's the situation: We have a small landing at the top of the basement stairs that needs serious help. I've removed the old linoleum squares (I think they're about 60 years old at least) and now I'm faced with the challenge of removing the old underlayment paper. It's turned to gunk and has fused to the wood subfloor, and it's especially bad where the most foot traffic occurs.

Scraping it is like removing wads of gum from the underside of a table--time consuming and not very effective. Is there any alternative?

I was faced with the same problem in the kitchen, which I redid several years ago. I saturated the floor with a wash of Goof Off and water and let it sit for half a day; then the goo scraped up fairly easily. But if there's a more effective (and ideally a less stinky and less messy) way of doing this, I'm all ears. Thanks! :hi:

[Paper Roses]

1. Been there, done that. Years ago we took off layers of that junk

from every room. The kitchen had 9 layers of linoleum. The top nailed town with a long metal strip.

All but the bottom layer were just a case of rip it up(left tiny brads at every level). It was the one closest to the floor that was the bugger. It was hard to scrape the stuff because of all the tiny little nails from the additional layers, plus the black adhesive was hard as a rock.

Now there are Carbon scrapers that work far better than the ones we had. Also--and lots disapprove of this---, I would try a heat gun. On low setting, with an extinguisher handy, you may be able to soften the black goop enough that it will be easier to scrape.
I don't think there is an easy way.

[MorningGlow]

2. That's the stuff!

I remember taking out the tiny brads in the kitchen as my scraper rammed into them all. None here (but there is a metal strip at the edge of the top step), just that awful paper-turned-to-gunk. I have nothing against a heat gun--I've employed it plenty before now, but never on the gummy paper. Thanks! :)

[Jersey Devil]

3. Why not just use an underlayment?

Assuming you are putting down new tile or some other covering, why not just put down 1/4 inch plywood underlayment and then tile over that? I did that in a kitchen with similar problems and it worked out fine, plus it was a lot quicker and easier than trying to scrape the floor down using all kinds of solvents, sanders, etc.

[MorningGlow]

4. I want to get down to the wood

Don't want to put anything new down. I thought the planks were going to be a continuation of the kitchen subfloor (broad planks--maybe 4" or so), but this wood is narrower (3") and runs perpendicular to the kitchen floor. Real vivid grain but I'm bad at identifying wood types so I couldn't hazard a guess as to what it is.

Anyway, I tried scraping and it didn't work, so I went back to the ol' standby of a slurry of Goof Off and hot water (and time). That worked great--just stunk up the house for a couple of days. Using the orbital sander now. Coming along quite nicely, but I am glad it's a small space. If I get really ambitious, I'll put down some of the marine finish we used in our mudroom, but not right now. :hi:

[morningglory]

5. I removed a kitchen-load of this stuff using a regular iron (for clothes) and a

square of aluminum foil. I placed the hot/warm iron over the foil in the next spot I wanted to work on. While I scraped up the spot I worked on, the iron was warming the next spot.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

6. Paint & varnish stripper works.

Read the can it should also remove glue and other stuff. The fumes are heavy but the effects are fast. Keep the door open and a fan going. I use lacquer thinner to clean up the residue. Since you have worked with goof off,the fumes shouldn't be a problem. you will need rags and a good scraper ,perhaps a wire brush,small ones for the edges . It should go quickly ,the paint & varnish remover is far more powerful than Goof Off.And you won't dig into your floor with your scraper removing the stuff because it become's mushy material easy to scrape up !

Good luck.