Hi...

I've been ripping out some old 1970's carpet from the basement. I've
found that there's some kind of glue they sprinkled down to hold the
carpet. Is there any good way to get the glue/backing grunge up from
the cement? I used a scraper to get the carpet up. Then I tried a wire
brush to get the leftover. That does a pretty good job, but you can
still see the glue lines so it's not getting it all.

My wife has been after me to ask if there's a better/more complete
solution. At the very least she wants to spray it down with bleach to
kill all the mold that was growing in there.

Thanks
-Mark

Is the glue black? I had the same problem, carpet glued to a concrete
basement floor. A commercial adhesive remover will do the job, check
out your local home improvement store.

The adhesive remover is nasty stuff though. Make sure you ventilate
very, very well. Work for 20 minutes, then take a break.

I used large scraper to get off the worst stuff, then used a cheap
brush to apply the remover. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then scrape off
with a putty knife. Do small sections at a time. Using the wire brush
is a good idea, the more you get off beforehand the less remover you
need to apply. It requires some more muscle, but it saves a ton of
braincells.

Good luck.


Mark Modrall wrote:
Hi...

I've been ripping out some old 1970's carpet from the basement. I've
found that there's some kind of glue they sprinkled down to hold the
carpet. Is there any good way to get the glue/backing grunge up from
the cement? I used a scraper to get the carpet up. Then I tried a wire
brush to get the leftover. That does a pretty good job, but you can
still see the glue lines so it's not getting it all.

My wife has been after me to ask if there's a better/more complete
solution. At the very least she wants to spray it down with bleach to
kill all the mold that was growing in there.

Thanks
-Mark

Thanks for the response...

In article . com,
" wrote:

Is the glue black? I had the same problem, carpet glued to a concrete
basement floor.

Our glue happens to be an orangey-yellow, but the issue's still the
same - the gunk is all over in the cement. When I tore up the carpet,
it even held onto most of the foam backing.

A commercial adhesive remover will do the job, check
out your local home improvement store.

The adhesive remover is nasty stuff though. Make sure you ventilate
very, very well. Work for 20 minutes, then take a break.

I used large scraper to get off the worst stuff, then used a cheap
brush to apply the remover. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then scrape off
with a putty knife. Do small sections at a time. Using the wire brush
is a good idea, the more you get off beforehand the less remover you
need to apply. It requires some more muscle, but it saves a ton of
braincells.

I'll try the adhesive remover after the brushing. A couple of
questions:
1) is the adhesive remover itself like a paint? I mean when it dries,
do you scrape it off like a film of latex?

2) What's the net result? Is there still discoloration in the cement,
or does it essentially get the stuff off?

Thanks
_mark

In article , Mark Modrall
says...

Hi...

I've been ripping out some old 1970's carpet from the basement. I've
found that there's some kind of glue they sprinkled down to hold the
carpet. Is there any good way to get the glue/backing grunge up from
the cement? I used a scraper to get the carpet up. Then I tried a wire
brush to get the leftover. That does a pretty good job, but you can
still see the glue lines so it's not getting it all.

My wife has been after me to ask if there's a better/more complete
solution. At the very least she wants to spray it down with bleach to
kill all the mold that was growing in there.

I had that in my house - I had gotten a new commercial-grade polypro to put in
my basement, and the old carpet (screaming '70s! red orange green pattern) had
been glued down. Poor installers scraped for a day, while I got me and my son,
both with allergies, out of the house. Good thing I had planned to put down
carpet again, over padding. Keeping the basement dry with the B-Dry system I had
just had installed and using a dehumidifier in the summer has kept that carpet
just fine so far, and that was in 1996.

So the question is - what do you plan to put down there? The concrete did not
have to be absolutely clean to replace the carpet, and I think a bleach spray,
then drying, of whatever's left should do.

If you need it really clean for tile or linoleum, then others here are better
sources for info.

Banty


--

Mark Modrall wrote:

Hi...

I've been ripping out some old 1970's carpet from the basement. I've
found that there's some kind of glue they sprinkled down to hold the
carpet. Is there any good way to get the glue/backing grunge up from
the cement? I used a scraper to get the carpet up. Then I tried a wire
brush to get the leftover. That does a pretty good job, but you can
still see the glue lines so it's not getting it all.

My wife has been after me to ask if there's a better/more complete
solution. At the very least she wants to spray it down with bleach to
kill all the mold that was growing in there.

Thanks
-Mark

Mark,

Home Depot rents a scraper that you walk behind to take care of this
job. Well worth the money and easy on the back.

J