removing glued-down padding from hardwood floor

apache · 10-30-2010, 08:30 AM

Hi All...I'm wanting to remove some old glued down padding from a hardwood floor and refinish it. The carpet guy said don't waste my time that it will never look right. Any suggestions

jlhaslip · 10-30-2010, 09:33 AM

Heat gun and 6" scraper.
Sand the floor, re-stain, then finish.

rusty baker · 10-30-2010, 10:39 AM

Find a new carpet guy. This one doesn't have a clue.

apache · 10-30-2010, 03:13 PM

Well to explain further the flooring guy said ( the glue soaks into every crack and crevice. It will look good untill you put down stain and then the white lines show up were the glue has soaked it. Any truth to that??

rusty baker · 10-30-2010, 03:33 PM

If they used pad or carpet glue(two different glues) It should scrape and sand off. The only thing that would bother me is that a knowledgeable carpet installer would never glue the pad to wood anyway. So who knows what they used. Pad adhesive has a opaque kinda shiney look to it and will almost just peel off. A carpet adhesive usually dries brown or yellow and will be harder to get off.

tacomahardwood. · 10-30-2010, 04:51 PM

I will guess that there was glue down outdoor or commercial carpet , Not that the previous carpet guy glued the pad down for some weird reason ,Hence making the glue a type that will not sand out , The easy approach is . Sand and finish a small test area . I have never had white spots of glue show through when i sanded a floor that had glue down carpet pad on it before .It will be difficult to scrape off with out gauges . But maybe you could use a heat gun ,I never tried that before ,

tacomahardwoodfloors.com

rusty baker · 10-30-2010, 05:00 PM

I have taken up carpet pad where some idiot glued it down full spread with carpet glue. There is also double stick, where the pad is full-spread glued to the floor and the carpet is glued to the pad, but you are right it could be rubberback carpet backing that is stuck to the floor.

apache · 10-30-2010, 05:23 PM

Thanks guys...This was some 1950's Ugly green floral industrial carpet of some kind with rubber back. They did it to the whole house with beautiful oak hardwood under it. I'll try a small area and see what happens. Lucky they only did the downstairs. Thanks again

moondawg · 10-31-2010, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by apache

Thanks guys...This was some 1950's Ugly green floral industrial carpet of some kind with rubber back. They did it to the whole house with beautiful oak hardwood under it. I'll try a small area and see what happens. Lucky they only did the downstairs. Thanks again

They did that exact same thing in my parents' first house. We removed it and sanded and refinished without issue. Looked great. tell us how it comes out!

overlooker · 03-06-2011, 11:04 PM

Help! I just bought a house with the same issue--rubber carpet back or carpet pad (hard to tell which) that was glued onto the original fir floors. To the best of anyone's knowledge out there, if this was done pre-1970s, would there be asbestos in the glue? It's yellowish. Also, anyone ever tried water and vinegar to get up the glue? That works wonders on wall paper.... Just an idea. I haven't tried it yet, but I just might.

rusty baker · 03-06-2011, 11:28 PM

No asbestos in carpet glue. It was the old black(cutback) adhesive that had asbestos.

overlooker · 03-06-2011, 11:36 PM

Thanks, Rusty. And nothing weird in the old rubber/rubber-like carpet backing and/or pad either, correct?

rusty baker · 03-07-2011, 07:52 AM

Nope, shouldn't be anything.

overlooker · 03-07-2011, 08:14 AM

Thanks, Rusty. That's a load off. Now I just have the arduous task of removing the lovely material. I'll make the best of it.