Solvent Recommendation to remove carpet glue

[BOB OLINGER]

A good friend pulled up some carpet previously glued down and found nice oak floors underneath. However, she needs to remove the glue/residue that's adhered to the oak floors without damage/penetration to the wood. Does anyone have a recommendation? We don't know the kind or brand of glue other than it's yellow in color. Thanks in advance.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Test it with a sander using 40 or 60 grit paper.
If it's hard enough to sand, then just get a floor sander and do the whole floor.

Freezing it with dry ice and then using a paint scraper works.
A paint scraper can work.

Methylene chloride paint stripper should work. Beware of the fumes.

Lacquer thinner might work - but - the fumes are extremely nasty and may be explosive. The fumes are usually heavier than air and will "sink" down into the basement and accumulate. Many a house blew or caught fire from this happening.

Acetone would probably work, but, you might be money ahead to pull all the old floor and nail down new wood.


Personally - I'd shoot for number 1, the sander. Most of the floors I've done that had glue on them sanded pretty easily.

[Jerome Stanek]

goo gone does work on some

[daryl moses]

For an entire floor sanding would be my preference. It would take forever to scrape and scrub that big of an area and gallons of solvent, cleaner, only to find it needs to be sanded anyway.
You should be able to rent a commercial style drum [belt] sander for a nominal fee.

[Karl Andersson]

Depending on the age of the adhesive, it may contain asbestos. If it's still sticky and rubbery, sanding would be generally safe, but if it has dried to a hard brittle substance and you think it's older than about 1980, it would be safest to remove the bulk of it with an adhesive/ mastic remover before sanding - although there may be enough finish left after the adhesive is gone that you only need to scuff sand and then refinish. Normally mastic remover is only needed for tile, but occasionally carpet was glued down as well - there are relatively safe citrus-based mastic removers that should do the trick and aren't explosive (acetone, lacquer thinner) or known carcinogens (Methylene Chloride). The BORG has citrus strippers, and I believe they have mastic removers- try a small bottle and see how it works. Check first to see if what you think is yellow adhesive isn't just old, yellow, foam carpet padding that has "collapsed" - I have experienced some that changes from a foam into a hard solid and sticks to the floor or carpet, and usually stinks like old pee because of the urea formaldehyde used to make it. If that is what you have, warm water with vinegar in it can be sprayed on it, let it sit a few minutes, the scrape/ scrub it off. For tough areas, a heat gun will do wonders. of course, the smell will get stronger doing these, so close doors and open windows to keep the rest of the house liveable.
good luck,
Karl

[Matt Day]

Methylene chloride is not only a carcinogen, The fumes killed something like 18 people last year, mainly people who were redoing bathrooms professionally but also people who are stripping furniture. If you're going to use that, please make sure to take all the proper precautions and ventilate extremely well. (Heard it on NPR)

[Kevin Groenke]

+1 on the methylene chloride warnings. VENTILATE WELL!

Dangers Of Paint Stripper Solvent : NPR

I had ~300sqft of space that had foam padded carpet glued down with what must have been 5 gallons of glue. I tried to sand but belts were clogged in minutes and it would have cost a fortune in abrasives. I ended up using a thin blade, long handled scraper to get most of it off then used a carbide paint scraper as well as the trusty old Stanley 80 and 112 to finish up. No sanding on the hard maple floors, a bunch of which has some really nice birds-eye and quilting. Somewhat therapeutic if you're into thet

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[Jason Roehl]

Let a pro do it. We would start with 24 grit on something like that. Your friend is not going to have any semblance of a good looking floor without a complete sand and finish. Solvents on a floor are a good way for things to very badly very quickly, whether by poisonous fumes, or by flammable vapors.