I recently decided to remove the carpeting throughout my home. Most of the carpeting was installed in the 1980s (some perhaps 1970s -- but late in the decade). I started in an old bedroom, and found the padding underneath (a red-ribbed material with a thin muslin type of sheet over it) was dried out and crumbling to dust.

Some of the reddish padding seemed to be adhereing to the wood floor, but I don't think it's from adhesive -- perhaps from pressure and the wood floor finish during the hot months.

My question is this -- Is there any danger of asbestos or harmful materials in this red dust? If so... what to do? And... if not, what should I use to remove the stuck-on material without scratching the surface -- provided that it is not glued (and also if it is).

Please advise.

Sure sounds like rubber and clay waffle pad.

No harm that I know of.

Sounds like you've got a nasty job on your hands. Are you planning to resand the floor? If so, don't worry too much about scratching during the tear out. If not, be sure to CAREFULLY remove the material in managable size pieces to avoid dragging the stuff accross the floor.

A shop vac should take care of the bulk of the clean up. Try to use a soft bristle head with the vac so a hard plastic one doesn't scratch the floor.

You may want to wear disposable dust mask for your own comfort. Perry's right, no real harm, but nasty tasting dust and years of toe-jam . Carpet dust is just plain nasty.

Once all the dust is gone and the corners sucked out with the vac, CAREFULLY and PATIENTLY (if you're not resanding) remove ALL them blister causing staples (knee pads recommended ... you don't want a stray IN your knee ) I like to use a small, sharp flathead screwdriver and comfortable needle nose pliers. If you ARE resanding just yank em and toss em.

Now your left with tack strips along the perimeter. A smaller style prybar with the more slender profile will help in being more careful than the typical flat nail bar. Work those guys up gently at the nail so not to gouge the floor. For some reason, new guys fight with these things. There is a knac to it. Now I can just barely get the nails down the length slightly lifted then the whole thing comes up without breaking the strip into ten pieces.

Get some Harwood floor cleaning concentrate, follow the distructions, go to town cleaning. THEN find some matching Color Putty for all them cool holes, and VOILA ... you got her.

She won't be perfect after all these years, and that 'waffle' pad's gonna leave some stain and some patern marks that may not come out without the help of 8 horses and some belt paper, but she'll be better'n nasty ole carpet any day!!!!

Good Luck

PS Don't matter Tack Strips or staple first ... just happened to be the way I wrote it ....

Use a 6" putty knife on the floor to pry against, when removing the tackstrips and staples. Keeps from maring the surface.

I came of across a similar type of carpet padding too when i removed the carpet. We think the wood floor was installed in 1965 (much nicer than the wood floors we see now). when the apartment was converted to a condo in 1988, the developer installed the padding and carpet. My husband lived in the condo for almost 8 years (2nd floor unit, little dirt tracked in, non-smoker, no pets, no children). Then, the condo was rented for the last 10 years (smokers?, the ever visiting cat, spills everywhere) the carpet and more importantly, the padding, has had a very rough life. There are parts of padding stuck to the floor. I used Murphy's Orange Oil to loosen and then sweep away what ever particles come loose (okay, I even used a paint scraper, lightly, of course). Is there a recommended product/cleaner to remove the carpet padding? I mean aside from sanding it off? And yes, I have been using a mask...that's nasty stuff, like petrofied spillage. I just want a nice looking floor so we can sell the place. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... al+spirits

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... php?t=1708


Try these links April. These are threads posted recently that may help you.

Good Luck!

We did a job of when the carpet was taken off, it looked like the pad melted onto the floor rock solid. It was like the carpet fused with the padding. It only came up where the tv was. Hand help floor scrapers did do anything as well. We ended first buffing with 60 grit screens to take the top part off. This part had fibers of the carpet in it. After this we then used teh buffers again with 16 grit double sided disks. We tried to use the sander with 36 and 16 grit but that didnt work too well and the unevenness created a problem. The 16 grit got the bulk off and almost down to bear wood but it was enough to sand with 36 grit belts. The job was only 900ft but it took 3 days just of buffing.
We stood by the jobs estimate and price. Customer was happy and got 3 referals from it so im not complaining.
Tony

Thanks for the advice. I'll check in Monday with a progress report...assuming i can still move my arms after all the scrubbing and buffing!

Where are you located, mabey someone on this post can help.