what can I use to dissassemble my laminate floor?
chances are, you need to go to the hardware store for tools. they might recomend chemicals to help remove the glue and what not for use either before or after you start digging up the floor.
I've heard people talk of 2 methods (I think they were removing vinyl kitchen floors though.) One method involved freezing the glue with regular ice or dry ice so it became brittle, then hit it with a hammer to crack it then pry up the flooring. The other method I've heard is to soften the glue with a heat gun so it was easier to pry up the old flooring. Either method can be dangerous. Dry ice can give you frostbite and should be used with ventilation. And the heat gun can start a fire if left in one place too long, the hot glue may produce fumes so use ventilation here too.
The same thing you use to remove glued-down vinyl flooring: A floor scraper. It's about a 6-inch-wide steel blade mounted in a capture assembly at the end of a pole. The blade is sharp, but it's thicker than the blade in a box cutter. It's also removeable, so you can replace a dull blade. Start at one end of the room and work the blade under the flooring. Then thrust it forward under the laminate to separate the glue from the floor (hopefully it's a concrete floor). Keep in mind that you will destroy the laminate. If it's been glued down, there's really no way to salvage it.
Depends on if the laminate is the old style where the glue is just on the tongue and grooves of the planks, or if the entire floor was glued down, and not sure I have ever seen the latter. However, if former, just set a circular saw to penetrate no more than the depth of the laminate and start removing by sections. If the latter, and the floor is truly glued to a hard surface, I would still use the circular saw, starting in an open space like a doorway, and cut through a roughly rectangular section. Then, get something to pry it up with, trying to break the glue bond. They make an ice scraper (large), for scraping drives and walks, that might work along with a prying tool like a crowbar. Keep working the tool far enough under the cut section, and try to pop it up. Repeat the process. If you don't care about the old laminate, once you get going with the first section, keep one going in spite of any splintering or breakage. Be sure to remove your baseboard molding or vinyl molding first.
I use a combination of floor scraper and a shovel made for tearing off roof shingles. The tear-off shovel has a metal bracket on the back which acts as a fulcrum, for prying up with the tip, that a floor scraper lacks. If this flooring is actually glued to the sub-floor, it will take a lot of elbow grease too, hehehe. Good Luck
