*
Today we began a project to put a new wood floor in a 6000 sq ft room. At present the floor is covered with a cheap grade of commercial carpet glued to a 1/2″ plywood underlayment. We have to remove this carpet before installing the wood floor. In some places the carpet can be easily removed by sliding a shovel or scraper under it and prying up. In other places the fibers of the carpet give way and the carpet becomes shredded and will not come loose from the plywood. We tried to heat up the glue but the carpet fibers start to melt before the glue. It is possible to chisel between the carpet and the plywood but only with the use of a hammer. In some places it is necessary to pull the fibers apart. Our most effective tool thus far has proven to be a regular pointed shovel because it concentrates the force.
After one day we have about 500 sq ft. uncovered and are awfully tired. Does anyone have any suggestions? The underlayment is extremely well fastened and would be even more difficult to remove and in any event we want to use this under the new floor. Help, I’m too old for this.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
This time-tested installation method for flangeless windows ensures smooth operation and provides air, water, and vapor control.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
*
Schelling: Our carpet installers here use a liquid that they apply with a garden sprayer on top of the carpet. The liquid soaks thru the carpet & dissolves 0r softens the glue and then the carpet is removed. It is not the cleanest job in the world but it beats the tugging & scraping bit. If your carpet store does not know about this E-mail me and I will get you a brand name and mfg. This product is designed just for this purpose.
Ron.
*Ron, for the betterment of mankind, post the name and manufacturer.
*Schelling,If you don't have time to wait for the solvent, we've used a commercial floor buffer with a black pad and sharp sand. It saves a lot of sweat.Guys, please do post that chemical's name and source. I've got a small glued carpet job coming up soon, and I am dreading it as it has a wrap around over an overhanging step. I can't use the floor buffer on that sucker!!! An angle grinder seems to be my only hope without that solvent.Cliff.
*Pull up about 2-3 feet of carpet then wrap the carpet around the 2x4x8-10-12 whatever lengh and put a couple of 4inch c clamps for handles and pull. Works great as long as the carpet isnt worn too thin in places.This works great with two or more people.GENE
*Never used the solvent method and I'd be interestd in that info too.The smaller the strip, the easier it comes up. I cut the floor into 6" wide strips with a razor knife, and only rip up 6" at a time. A flat blade ice chopper (sharpened well) is about this width and works good. Use the 2X4 wrap trick posted above. One person pulls the other scrapes... Always a nasty job no mater how ya do it.
*Schelling,My office mate comes from a carpeting company family (his brothers still own the company - he used to work with them, and still does on the occasional friend/family job). He suggests maybe renting a "carpet stripper" which is about 2' wide that has a horizontal blade to cut between the carpet and underlayment, but it may gouge the plywood below. It is more useful for concrete applications. He also advocates cutting it into 4-6" strips to make it easier. There are also "gripper"s you can buy - basically a handle you can clamp onto the carpet and use as a handle. Similar to the 2x4 and C-clamp method above.He advises against the solvent due to health exposure, flammability, clean up mess, and that the chemical will soak into the plywood underlayment. Especially don't use it if animals (pets) will later be in the room, they will mark their territory when they smell the remaining fumes in the plywood.Finally, he says that he and his brothers would advise the client to rip out and replace the underlayment, it's the easiest way to really get a smooth base. With 3 man crew, he thinks it'll take you three days to just rip up the carpet with reasonable results.Good luck.
*Here's an update. My partners heard my whining and showed up with reinforcements. There were seven of us and armed with three ice scrapers we tackled the job with a new fire. I had called a carpet company to ask about the solvent and was told that they do not use it because of the resulting mess. It turns out that with a nice big gang there we did not need it. We had strips about 6' wide cut the width of the room (40'). With three scrapers and three carpet pullers we were able to keep moving until we got to the really tough section which was about eight feet from the end. At that point it was sheer doggedness. We found that only the heaviest scraper was effective at that point and only with a fresh operater every minute. By ten o'clock we had about 2000 sq ft. cleared and everyone left to go to another job. They will come back for another section when we have the floor laid in the clear area. Never underestimate the power of a fresh look and many bodies. Despite having laid 400 sf of flooring this afternoon, I feel great.