Pulling Up Carpet on Hardwood Floors?

[Durkee]

Anyone ever done this? I have decided I'm sick of the old ghetto carpet in my living room and I want to pull it up and expose the hardwoods underneath. Any advice on doing this? I'm assuming there will be some kind of glue or something holding it down, and that I will have to refinsh the wood, but I'm not sure what kind of stuff I will need to do it.

I guess I could just go to Home Depot and ask?

 

[Super]

Actually, you rarely find glue in this situation. Usually just a pad and tacking strips on the edges. Unless of course some jackass glued down some other form of underlayment. Sometimes you'll find that the foam padding has left some sort of pattern on the wood or is sticking to it for whatever reason.

If there is glue, you're in for a wretched time if you do it yourself. You'll have to find the right solvent for it (that won't do serious damage to the wood), apply it, scrape adhesive and solvent off and dispose of it, then wash the floor to get off the rest of the residue. Some adhesives can simply sanded off, though.

Then, you either rent a drum sander and sand, then vacuum then sand/vaccuum/ again, then sand/vacuum/mop again. Then apply your stain and or finish (probably twice), then wait, then buff it after each coat, then stay the hell off of it for a few days. Or hire someone to do it.

If you're in luck like I was, the wood floor may be in decent shape and all it might need is a buffing and perhaps a fresh coat of polyeurethane. Pry up tacking strips carefully to avoid gauging hardwood or leaving tiny nails sticking up that will cause undue suffering when you "discover" them later ...

Any of the above steps may not be necessary, depending on the condition of the floor and your personal tastes.

 

[TXHookem]

Just about our entire house was carpet over hardwood floors. It's not too bad of a project but you'll spend a lot of time on your hands and knees, depending on your situation.

In our situation, the padding was stapled to the floor. The positive is that glue wasn't an issue. The negative was that I had to slowly scour each room looking for staples. I would have to pull them out with pliers and, in some instances, would need to loosen them with a screwdriver to get leverage.

The other issue is the carpet tacking... you'll need to get all that crap out with a little crowbar. You'll learn how to gradually work your way down the board rather than shredding it as you go along. Some brands are easy to remove and others splinter like crazy. We had both. Once you pull them out, you'll probably have to add quarter round along the baseboards.

Another item - some of the padding was a bit disintegrated on our floors. I had to use turpentine to get rid of the stuff. It wasn't too brutal.

Ultimately, our floors were covered for 38 years so they were in great shape. You'll love the hardwoods... they're well worth the sore back, skinned up knees and long nights.

 

[suttree]

Pray this is no glue. If there is glue, plan to spend hundreds of dollars on belt sanding pads as you sand the glue off, and then refinish the floors.

Anyone who would glue carpet onto hardwoods should be castrated.

 

[Durkee]

Well, we got after the carpet today and there was no glue!! The tacks are a pain in the ***, but will not be a big deal, just time consuming. Thanks for y'alls replies!

 

[WB_Rowdy_Yeats]

If you have any tack holes that you want to fill, just use a mixture of wood glue and the appropriate sawdust, which I would guess is white oak. You can pick up a white or red oak board at most lumber stores. Sand away. A putty knife works well in applying the mixture.

 

[Agamemnon]

Sorry it took me so long to add something to this. I've been busy moving/unpacking in the new house to get to this.

We just bought a house that had carpeting throughout. It was a soft carpet and easy on the feet just not easy on the eyes. We pulled up the carpet in every room except the master bedroom and found staples holding a lot of the carpet down to the hard wood floor. It was a total disappointment because the floors are pristine. Other than the staples the 50 year old floor has absolutely no wear on them at all. Some creaking but what do you expect with a 54 yr old floor?

Anyway, I found this crap in a "Family HandyMan Magazine" and it's awesome. It's called: Rejuvenate Floor Finish.

I tested one bottle out in my office and was amazed at how beautiful the floor looked. This room had the least staples in it, which I filled (using just my fingers) with a wood filler mixed with some sawdust. The color of the wood fill didn't match perfectly but the slight flaw and the Rejuvenate made everything look natural.

So I've ordered 5 more bottles and can easily report back when I get the rooms done. I have to lay some tile in the kitchen and breakfast area first but I figure it should all be done by mid August.

Try this crap out. It really worked well.