A customer in Phoenix gave me a tip about old tile adhesive that actually worked

I was doing a demo job last month, pulling up some old vinyl in a kitchen. The adhesive was that black cutback stuff, and it was stuck on there like tar. The homeowner, an older guy who used to do construction, came out and watched for a minute. He said, 'Try a little bit of vegetable oil on a rag, let it sit for five minutes before you scrape.' I was pretty sure it wouldn't do anything, but I tried it on a small spot. It actually softened the gunk up enough to scrape it off clean without needing a ton of chemical stripper. Has anyone else had a customer give you a good old-school trick that saved some time?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora_park6h ago

Honestly sounds like a lot of extra steps for something a scraper and some muscle would handle. That oil is gonna leave a greasy film you'll have to clean anyway, might as well just use the right stripper from the start. Feels like one of those "life hacks" that just makes a bigger mess later lol.

matthew1665h ago

You're right about the greasy film, it's a real trade-off. I tried the oil trick once and spent more time cleaning the slick spot than I saved on scraping. My version of a "life hack" is usually just using the wrong tool for the job twice as hard. I once tried to soften some mastic with a hair dryer because I couldn't find my heat gun, just made the whole room smell like hot dust and regret.