What is under old carpet and how to remove it?

Hi Everyone,

I am investigating if i can take up the carpet that is covering the back half of my home - i can see the hardwood floor underneath but i am tryin to figure out what the black foam like substance is that seems to be almost stuck to the floor and if there's any recommendations on how to remove it easily?

For context- the 1st owners back in the 60's put carpet down, the 2nd owners did a quick DIY flip before selling and put down carpet by themselves that was not properly attached and rippling, its also very poor quality so i want to remove it.

Appreciate any recommendations or advice -
thank you!

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Renovation

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Dave-1

Morning @KateDIYhome

Fun (not) but doable 🙂 That is old school underlay. I had it in the first kitchen/dining room area I renovated. As it ages it perishes to this kind of state almost becoming one with the floor. I think I removed the majority of it with a paint scraper (wide) and then when the sanders came in they said no worries it will come up. Id probarly wear a mask while removing it tho.

Dave

KateDIYhome

Morning @Dave-1 ,
Thank you so much for the reply 😌 I had a sneaking suspicion it may have been something from the original flooring process! Good to know its not to difficult to get up and thank you for the tool and mask recommendation - defiantly needed seeing how much crumbling dust it pulls up!

I think this might be a bigger job than i thought, so i will tackle it over the summer break and put up a post once its done- fingers crossed i don't find anymore surprises!

Dave-1

@KateDIYhome

🙂 Its not such a huge job as you would think (Unless you are sanding it yourself then it might start to be 🙂 )

I just went back and had a look at my old pics from 2009 to show you how easy and how good it can turn out!

01 03-06-2009.jpg

See the black? Thats the leaft over foam after scraping it back as much as I could.

02 03-06-2009.jpg

The dinining room had this underlay, teh kitchen had masonite that was stappled down.

03 25-06-2009.jpg

You can see we scrapped more of it and it did wear away as we worked around it.

04 26-06-2009.jpg

It came up so nicely, I decided on as clear a coat as possible of a green for the enviroment polyurethane

05 10-07-2009.jpg

I might upload the reno as it was a good one and I really liked the kitchen tho I cringe at the wall colours lol

The sanders I used I just got from the phone book and asked to see some of therei otrher jobs. I think I even contacted a few of the previous people just to check from memory.

Dave

KateDIYhome

Hi Dave,
Thank you so much for sharing your project - wow! The floors came up a treat, you have definitely inspired me to persist with working away at the original foam underlay!🙌

I can see now why the previous owners may have just re carpeted my house, but i do think they wooden floors will look amazing once done- just hoping i don't find too much water damage with the boards close to the laundry and bathroom!

thanks again,
Kate

EricL

Hi @KateDIYhome

That's spot-on recommendations from @Dave-1. It's definitely old carpet foam and the former owners did not bother to strip it off. I suggest using a Trojan A1+P2 Half Mask Respirator as sanding your floor will create a great deal of dust debris.

If it is a very large area, I suggest having a look at the For Hire Floor Sander. This will make sanding your floor much easier.

I totally agree with you that @Dave-1's flooring revamp is fantastic.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

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