I recently bought a house that was built in 1970 and immediately pulled up the old carpet. In some rooms it had underlay and although the floor is marked and spotty it seems to be the least problematic areas so far. The real trouble areas are the ones where rubber backed carpet had been placed over the floor boards. The carpet came up but the rubber backing has broken down and adhered to the floor. We removed the bulk by carefully scraping it away (it came up as black dust) but it has left black stains in the wood which aren’t coming out with a good clean or a sanding. Does anyone have any ideas on how to lessen or remove these stains?
Secondly.. the kitchen floor had newish but damaged vinyl which we removed only to discover MDF panels (60 cm x 60 cm) underneath which have been nailed at 10 cm intervals over the same 40 year old rubber backed perished carpet. We attempted to lift the one at the door to the room but the MDF just breaks into small pieces and the nails holding it down have a threaded end. Any suggestions as to how to go about removing these panels would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Replies
Jules
Did you use a floor sander on that black residue, or was your test by hand?
The picture shows what I use to pull nails (on the right) if the claw on a hammer doesn't cut it-or to pull the nails out the backside of trim.
Get one sized right for your hand so it's not a chore to operate.
I used a floor sander. Attached pics show bedroom after sanding still with black marks caused by rubber backed carpet. Living pic shows the floor in what was the hallway prior to scraping the rubber off by hand which is what we had to do in the bedroom before sanding. It is impacted rubber dust basically.
Also the kitchen floor panel suggestion for nail removal is appreciated but we can't get to the nails to pull them up without first removing the panels somehow but these are just breaking into small pieces and not easily coming up. As there are so many nails is there a way to (quickly) puncture the MDF panels around the nails to allow me to get to the nails?
I'm just winging this reno... can you tell?
Thanks!!
Jules
While I've refinished after pulling and scraping old adheared black backed carpet, I didn't have the problem you are experiencing. Sanding removed it all.
What's the thickness of your wood floor?
I am used to seeing particle board as an underlay. Wonder bars (several) pounded in under the PB along an edge will tend to lift into bigger pcs. (maybe a couple sq. ft at a time) but yes, that stuff shatters. The pullers remove nails after the fact. Underlay nails are no picnic.
Sorry I cannot be of more help.
One question, those doors-were they trying to keep young children from opening the doors? Those knob locations look pretty high. I have seen them like that in a pediatricians office.
Edit: Is the flooring cupped? The dark lines seem to be even, like their at the T&G joint.
How much did you scrape off? If much pad residue is left, when sanding it heats the floor and what's on it. It might soften it enough to "stain" the wood as it penetrates. You might need a more coarse paper and don't concentrate on one area--go over it either with or against the grain and move on, taking just a bit of the dark-no allowing it to heat up too much.
However, you'll need a thick enough floor so you don't sand right through the groove. You'll need to have enough floor to then step up the grit to remove the sanding marks.
It looks to me like those doors are hung upside down making the knobs too high like that.
About the staining - I think you are spot on about it getting burned in - or possibly that it's been wetted to make stains happen
Hi Piffin
The doors aren't upside down. I believe door knobs may just be higher over here. :)
I am sure in it's past the carpet may have been damp... contributing to the problems... but the floor has not been wet since I removed the carpet... they are caused by the backing of the carpet perishing and being forced into the wood over 40 years prior to my purchasing the property. The carpets throughout were filthy as if the previous owners had never vacuumed... yuk!
It is possible I have "set" some of it by sanding and possibly should have tried to remove more of the staining with steel wool or other means before sanding but even then perhaps it would still remain stained to some degree. I am not sure how deep the staining goes into the wood so it's hard to tell. I have never come across this before which is why I am asking for various suggestions from people who know more than I about such things.
Thanks. :)
Calvin
The floors are standard thickness for a house built in 1970... not awfully thick in other words. Not like OLD houses. Sadly. :(
I'll give the wonder bar idea a shot... thanks for the suggestion.
The door knobs seem to be at a standard height for Australia... every house I've lived in here the knobs were a minimum 42" from floor. I think newer houses might be lower (eg. post 1980's) although I'm not sure. I did notice when I was in Chicago the knobs of the house I stayed in there seemed lower but I assumed because it was one of those really neat old places.
The floor boards are flat... but the rubber did seem to have stained more along the lines. There are a few cupped boards under the rubber in the area I have yet to scrape (as I only removed that wall on the weekend) so I will have to address those as I get to the rubber. I thought I had scraped as much as possible but now I think I could have done better at cleaning prior to sanding... perhaps steel wool?
Thanks for all the great advice... will try this coming weekend when I go up there again.
Question... if the dark staining remains what type of finish would you suggest to make them appear less obvious or even "part of the charm"? :P
My initial idea was oiled floors but I don't see that working too well now. :(
Jules
I have no ideas re. finish if you don't get the lines out.
And with strip floor (here, about 3/8"), you cannot take too much off till you get through the groove.
Here's a picture of the pry bar I'm talking about. I've got 4 that I pound under the edge of underlayment in unison (or whatever word means one after the other). I place them maybe a foot apart and get them started. Then I hammer one after another till that section comes up. The thinner the end (opposite the yellow) the better. Some of these brands of bars have a bit more bend than others on that end-that helps with many other tasks I put them through.
You forgot the picture.
Word you look for be Sequentially?
Jules, I didn't realize you were from Australia. So it makes sense that the doors appear upside down, LOL
Ah, this is Australia -- that explains it!! The doors are right-side-up, but the house is upside down!
I would recommend neutral pH cleaners which are specifically made for wood floors.
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