old carpet and old linoleum...

[icebear]

Today's crazy housework project depends on what info/help i can get here :)

We have OLD carpet in our teensy walk-in area at the front door. I mean, this is OLD stuff, its the very same carpet my parents had in their house when they built it in 1973. its the type which i believe the weave was glued to the padding, then glue was applied to the floor and that was that.

Well this stuff is rank. It is so broken down its fraying at the seams- and is a hazard to vacuum because it just unravels into the beater bar. The padding under it has literally turned to dust, it can't be steam cleaned because its basically just heavy tapestry cloth on a floor. I'm sick of looking at it, and its the first thing seen when entering the house. Mortifying.

Underneath it is even older linoleum- which other than the fact that it is coated in a layer of glue, looks ok- better than the nasty raggy carpet!

I want to rip up that carpet so bad! :gaah But i really must get that old adhesive off.

Any ideas on what i could use? I'll try anything...! Even hand scraping with a razor blade might be worth it... thats how sick i am of that carpet.

i have some TSP... don't suppose that would get me anywhere? :hehee

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/icebear713/house%20stuff/DSC00547.jpg

[TeachMe]

My carpet was glued to the floor. There was some kind of old black stuff underneath. The man I got to pull it up had to use a kind of a flat shovel.....and just scraped it up.
I am so glad I got that mess out of my house.
I don't have carpet now. I put down vinyl in all my rooms. At least I can sweep everyday and get the dust up.
Carpet is just nasty. It holds germs and vacuming never gets everything out of it.


I'm serious about shoveling it up....get most of it that you can with a flat shovel, and then you'll probably have to sand the floor, if you intend to use the wooden floor. Even if you put down vinyl or tile, you'll want the floor as smooth as possible.
Be sure to wear face masks. The dust could be bad.

Another suggestion...........ask at your home building store, where they sell floor coverings. They may have suggestions on how to get it up. But I betcha hard work and elbow grease is what you're going to need.

[lyngraphics]

Once you rip up the carpet, do you think the linoleum will be tacked down still? If it's not coming up in places, you could cover it up with those vinyl sticky tiles. They look really nice... how much area are we talking about? If you do get a scraper, I would take up the linoleum as well.... get one where you can change out the blades and one with a long handle so you can scrape it standing up. (We got one from Home Depot years ago to scrape up glue from linoleum) Are you on a slab?

[Theresa]

I have a similar problem, except that it is my family room. Why on earth would someone build a house with hardwood floors throughout, except for the family room? And, yes, I am absolutely positive that the family room is original as the basement, which has not been expanded, is under the family room, also.

Good luck with your decision - I am still contemplating what to do with mine!!

[lyngraphics]

Icebear, you must be feeling much better to have all of these projects going on! :thumb :hug



Can you come over to my house?

[icebear]

i've gone stir-crazy... six months of being immobile and i'm going nuts, plus its a smallish area and i can sit on the stairs for part of it, and lean on the stair rail for most of the rest. since i can use the stair rail i can pretty much throw the crutch out the door for a bit...

it also helps me gauge how ready i am to get back to work at my paying job. once i can complete a project without having to sit every 20 minutes or take a vicodin horse pill that night, i should be ok to go back at least part time!

[lyngraphics]

The glue is weird... I have seen some cases where it comes up easy, others (like the kitchen and dining room in my old house) it takes forever to come up! It the latter, the glue came up in like a dust form- so time consuming. It is much easier when you can scrape up actual pieces of the glue.

[icebear]

My carpet was glued to the floor. There was some kind of old black stuff underneath.

when my parents had theirs removed, the padding was black. mine is a yellowish stuff- which may have been white at some point.

i tend to think of carpet as one huge dirty sock that never gets washed!

gnarly


i do have a flat shovel around here somewhere... would be way easier for me to use to use than a putty knife :nod

[icebear]

The glue is weird... I have seen some cases where it comes up easy, others (like the kitchen and dining room in my old house) it takes forever to come up! It the latter, the glue came up in like a dust form- so time consuming. It is much easier when you can scrape up actual pieces of the glue.


i found a site that says sometimes boiling water works... they suggested laying down newspaper and pour on the water, then scrape.

sounds like a mess... but no chemicals! and i think i could use my electric kettle....:hmmm between that and the shovel :thumb -- if it does work it will totally rock

[lovinlife4]

We had to tear down 3 layers of wallpaper that was from the 1970's and the layers of glue. We mixed boiling hot water with oxy clean powder, mixed well and scraped with a hand scraper. After spraying, we let it sit for a couple minutes before scraping but it worked. I'm not sure how well it would work on flooring but we were told by a pro home decorator that oxy clean and hot water can break cown just about anythig. In our caes, she was right! Good luck though however you attempt it.