How To Clean Old Hardwood Floors That Have Been Under Carpet
For the former cover the adhesive with a cotton towel or rag mound some ice on top and let it sit for at least 15 minutes even if you have to hold it in place.
How to clean old hardwood floors that have been under carpet. Rather than risk damaging your wood floor with harsh chemicals or scraping tools use ice or peanut butter to remove the glue. Vacuum the old carpet. Liquid and water can cause permanent warping damage. I bought a house about 3 weeks ago and it has hardwood floor in the living room when i tried removing the old carpet it left padding residue and marks on the floor. You have to be careful when cleaning unfinished hardwood flooring.
You may discover carpet padding that has been attached with hundreds of staples or adhesive of some sort. Take a few short screws and secure the strip under the edge of the carpet to the wood floor. These strips were pretty cheap and took some manhandling to get the carpet to snag on the spikes. It s quick efficient and much simpler than getting on your hands and knees to clean. When wall to wall carpet became popular in the 60 s and 70 s many wood floors were covered up.
To discover the type of finish on the floor place a drop of water on the floor and wait for it to dry. When you mix it half and half with water then it lowers the acidity to a safe level for your hardwood floors. One safe method is to use vinegar and water drying the floor by towel as soon as you re done cleaning it. The acidic properties of vinegar are what makes it a top pantry cleaning product. Before you pull up the old carpet go over the entire carpet thoroughly with your vacuum to get rid of any dirt.
Well there are a lot of ways to remove carpet padding on your wood floors but today and i m going to tell you the easiest way to do it. White vinegar is on the top of everyone s list when it comes to cleaning hardwood floors. Remove carpet padding and all debris from the floor. Vinegar works wonders on carpets hardwood floors and even tile. Vacuum the area 1 2 times to get the most dirt out of the carpet so it doesn t transfer to a different room.
Old hardwood floors usually have a wax finish while more recent hardwood floors have a polyurethane finish. Once the strip is screwed down pull the carpet over the spikes and it should snag on them. Make sure nails staples and other debris are all off the floor. Chemicals can stain and damage your wood permanently. All you need to do is run the cleaner along your floors and either push a button or pull a lever to release the cleaning solution.