How can I remove glued carpet?
by
Debora
+5
We have a small room, about 10 X 11, that we glued carpet onto the plywood that was on it for a quick fix at the time about 4 years ago. The carpet is in fair shape and will probably last a few more years, but we were thinking about removing the carpet and putting down linoleum or something similar. It was glued down with regular Mastik or carpet glue, I don't remember which. Any suggestions on what we could replace the carpet with and how when the time comes? Thank you in advance.
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it appears that it will be a tough job. I did find this on the web
https://www.lovelyetc.com/how-to-remove-glued-down-carpet
As far as what to replace the carpet with, you may want to consider tile. It is long-lasting, durable, and attractive.
You don't mention if you also put down carpet padding, but I will assume not. This expert gives advice on removing glued down padding but I think it may involve the same steps and methods. I hope this helps: https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/71758/how-to-remove-glued-down-carpet-pad Good luck!
Rent a heat gun and a scraper . That's what the professional flooring people would do to remove it .
Might easier to just pry up the plywood sub-floor and carpet, then just lay down new plywood or chipboard.
What will the room be used for? That would determine what flooring to use. Tile is beautiful and easy to keep clean, (I prefer heated, but I am getting older and have arthritis in my feet), just choose colored grout, the new vinyl products are great, and hardwood is always a classic. It is a small room so even if you choose higher end products it should not break the bank.
Ugh! The previous homeowner glued carpet to the hardwood floors with ?? What a nightmare it was to remove the thick, black goo. We tried different methods, but we ultimately used straight-edged scrapers to painstakingly remove it, followed by the sanding to prepare the hardwood. If the plywood isn't necessary for the integrity of the floor, I'd give serious thought to just removing it.
Thank all of you for all of the suggestions. I want to also say I enjoy this forum and have learned a lot.
When we mover into this house it had indoor-outdoor carpet glued down to a plywood subfloor in the kitchen. It was filthy and greasy in spots and I just couldn't stand it, so I tore it up! Then I spent days with a solvent (turpentine, I believe) to get the glue left behind when I ripped out the old carpet. So the first thing you must do is to find out which solvent will remove the glue, then hopefully it won't eat the skin off your hands, and use gloves that the solvent won't eat either!! I tried several kinds of vinyl/rubber and whatever else I could find, but they just wouldn't last long, so I just had to do it bare handed. Even with all that, I do believe that it was still easier than removing the plywood subfloor and replacing it, both considering the cost of the new plywood AND all the cutting and piecing and filling all the gaps and seams with plastic wood. So depending on what you plan to ultimately put down on the floor, having a smooth surface is almost a necessity, or the new floor will either show the imperfections or be unstable for tile. You CAN do it, but it's going to take a lot of your time and elbow grease! But I am so proud of the finished floor that it made it all worth while! I'd even do it again if I had to!!