Hardwood Flooring Nightmare

Upon exposing oak floors I found the old carpet pad has completely broken down and sticks like glue to the oak. Used a long handled scrapper - but that is very slow and gouging the floor.

Anyone have an idea how to remove this padding - refinisher says the sticky padding will gum up the sand paper and his machine.

Can anyone help me out of this sticky situation?

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:40AM

Eddie Ziv

Real Estate Investor · Studio City, California

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Nov 28 '09, 08:10 AM

You can do what I did... Google it."Removing carpet pad from hardwood floor"
http://repair-place.com/page2/3880~1970s_carpet_pad-_a_nightmare!.html

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/carpet-removal.htm

http://www.diychatroom.com/f5/removing-carpet-pad-paint-hardwood-floors-20766/

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:40AM

Matt Kearney

Real Estate Investor · Springfield, Massachusetts

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Nov 28 '09, 08:24 AM

Hi Tim,

We've refinished some pretty nasty floors in a couple of our rehabs. One in particular had some really heavy glue/flooring adhesive all over it. My hardwood guy just grinds it out using a very rough, low grit sandpaper.

I would get a few more refinishers to look at it. I'm sure one of them would be willing to sand it out for you.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:40AM

Luis A.

Real Estate Investor · Atlanta, Georgia

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Nov 30 '09, 11:54 PM

It might sound very simple but have you tried either water or a paint stripper?

I say water because I had similar issue when removing vinyl floors and getting them wet and scraping did the trick...

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:41AM

Jason Fant

Real Estate Investor · Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina

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Dec 01 '09, 12:24 AM

Try goo-gone or goof off to soften it before you scrape. Acetone may also work. In any case the scraper is going to be your best bet. Your re-finisher is right, the pad will completly gum up his pads. He'll be able to sand any hardened glue residue, but you need to get that pad material off. Unfortunately it's just one of those jobs that requires a lot of elbow grease. Good luck!

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:42AM by Jason Fant

Tom Tarrant

Real Estate Investor · San Diego, California

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Jan 01 '10, 08:50 AM

Find a new hardwood floor refinisher. Your guy is a novice. Any good contractor goes through a series of sandpaper grits, first being 36. It will mow off anything including gummy carpet pad residue or drywall mud and construction debris.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 11:03AM

Tom Tarrant

Real Estate Investor · San Diego, California

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Jan 01 '10, 08:52 AM

Originally posted by qkjones

It might sound very simple but have you tried either water or a paint stripper?

I say water because I had similar issue when removing vinyl floors and getting them wet and scraping did the trick...

Whatever you do DONT USE WATER! Hardwwod floors warp and seperate with moisture.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 11:03AM

Chris Barnes

Residential Real Estate Agent · Syracuse, New York

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Jan 01 '10, 09:13 AM

I agree with Tom.

If you get a qualified hardwood flooring contractor, they will have no problem sanding it off with a 220v sander.

Chris

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 11:03AM

Tim B

Real Estate Consultant

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Jan 01 '10, 09:35 AM

Thanks for everyones suggestions - just finished the floors and they look great. The carpet pad had turned into a gummy tar like material that required hours of scrapping and sanding. Water is never good on wood floors, however paint thinner removed some of the material. In the end, hours of sanding was required. 36 grit is only good for typical floor sanding situations - this floor required starting with 16 grit. Even my contractor with 18 years experience had never seen such a mess - hope we never do again!

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 11:03AM

NC Mark

Real Estate Investor · North Carolina

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Jan 01 '10, 10:17 PM

Good for you, Tim.

I did a rehab last year with beautiful hardwood floors but the bedrooms were so thick with glue and gum I just recarpeted in them.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 11:04AM

Matt Pierce

Virtual Assistant

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Mar 21 '11, 02:14 PM

hello guys!

for the record, Tom is right in saying that the first contractor is a newbie and that such mess is not anywhere uncommon in flooring rehab especially those with carpet, glue, cabs, mud, and epoxy problem on there wooden floor. and for those who just threaded in, you can visit [REMOVED] regarding your flooring concern in your future project endeavor. have a great day everyone!

Edited: 03/21/2011 at 02:26PM by Moderator