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summerblue_gw

carpet pad stuck on floor

summerblue
11 years ago

I recently took up the old wall to wall carpet in my living and dining rooms. I am not sure how long the carpet has been there, it has to be at least 10 years, maybe more. They were here when I bought the house.

The pad is stuck on the hardwood in spots. Small spots of padding, which is very hard. I tried scraping it off but I don't want to scratch the wood. The floor is in prety good shape otherwise. I need to know how to get this stuck padding off. Thanks for any help with this.

Comments (12)

  • summerblue
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for your tip. I haven't tried that yet, but will. Last night I tried some nail polish remover with acetone and it worked better than anything I've tried so far. It's going to take a long time and alot of elbow grease though. If anyone has a easier way, I'd appreciate it.

  • stacieann63
    11 years ago

    Go get some goof off at the big box stores. It will get off the padding without stripping your floors and dulling the finish. Acetone and alcohol with take off the finish. I'd use baby oil to soften it before acetone. Be careful of falling, wash off well!

  • lazy_gardens
    11 years ago

    Those "small spots" of padding often have a staple in them, because the padding is randomly stapled before the carpet is rolled out.

    Try a staple remover.

    You can scrape the floor without damaging it - use a paint scraper with a broad flat blade and hold it almost parallel to the floor. It's far less damaging than dousing it with various solvents.

  • summerblue
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hi, I only used the acetone on a small spot, it eventually helped but I can tell it will stain the floor and they are in good shape so don't really want to do that.

    The padding doesn't have staples in it. These are spots that are very hard, like cement. They are mostly by the front door, I guess where there was alot of moisture over the years. I tried scraping but that wasn't a good idea as it scraped some of the floor but I only did a really small spot.

    I will try the baby oil and will look for the goof off. I saw something on line about goo gone, is that sort of the same thing?

    The floors are in good shape really except for these spots. Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    Almost any solvent potent enough to break down polymerization between a floor finish and carpet padding is going to damage the floor finish.

    Paint thinner, denatured alcohol, and isopropyl alcohol are the least likely to damage floor finishes (and also not the strongest solvents).

    Acetone, Goof-off (mainly Xylene) are very likely to damage the floor finish, especially if a lot is used or left in contact with the finish.

    If the floors are in good shape you may be able to get away with screening them and then a new coat of finish.

    Compatibility of modern finishes with the old finish and any contamination on the surface can be a problem.

  • summerblue
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks brickeyee, I'm going to look into what screening is about. I'm not familiar with that. I was hoping there was an easy way to do this. The floors in good shape and I will be the one doing the work. Thanks again.

  • trigrl09
    11 years ago

    I tried goo off the only thing that worked for us was Windex. Go figure.

  • Alan Fletcher
    11 years ago

    I suggest using olive oil (or another common cooking oil) to loosen the pad from the wood flooring. I doubt that it is glue that is holding the pad to the wood floor. I bet it will come off easily if you try olive oil and give it enough time to work (1/2 hour?) Olive oil will not harm your wood flooring.

    Then you can gently rub off the stuck on padding.

    Alan

    Here is a link that might be useful: AbcCarpets.com

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    "Olive oil will not harm your wood flooring. "

    Except for any amount that oaks into the wood from missing finish.

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    Soaks into the wood

  • summerblue
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I tried a small amount of pine sol and that worked rather well. I only did a very small spot and it didn't seem to harm the wood. I will look into the olive oil as well, Thanks

  • andreak100
    11 years ago

    Last year, we went through the same thing, only for us, the carpet and padding had been down well in excess of 30+ years (1970's avocado green carpet from previous owners). Using solvents can mess up the current finish on the floor. Using oil based anything will soak into the hardwood anywhere that the finish isn't still sealed, which can make for significant problems.

    We used a paint scraper that was nearly parallel with the floor and went along slowly and carefully. We wound up getting almost everything up easily without scratching or marring the floor in any way. There were a few stubborn spots where I used a rag lightly soaked with water (mostly wrong out) and had it sit on the stuck spot for a few minutes and then scraped again. Repeated as necessary.