Hi
Iam new to board and have a question. I live in a home about 50 years old.
Well cat went on carpet and could not get odor up so I pulled up carpet and was surprised to see hardwood floors. Anyways where cat went floor is now free of odor but color is gone on hardwood looks like water stain.
But that is not the big problem, so I decided to pull up old carpet in hallway. Well down the very center under pad it is slighly damp and and it is stuck to floor. There is no smell. On the sides floor is dry as can be. I was thinking maybe shampooing the carpet is what caused this because under furniture floor is good and dry. Anyway I scraped all powder like stuff up and now it looks like a water stain down the middle of floor.

Floor is now clean and dry can it be varnished or should I cover it up.
Any info would sure be of help. No one wants to do small jobs and I have a small house and I need to have all carpet removed .

Thanks so much
Trish

I'm in Austin, and love small jobs, since I work solo.

Floorguy
Too bad you arent closer I live about 25 miles south oh Houston

Trish

With old floors like you describe, it's best to have them sanded down to the bare wood and refinished. You will be surprised at how beautiful those floors can be in the hands of a quality flooring contractor. Some of the water stains MAY be able to be sanded out but some may not. It depends on the depth of the staining. At that point, you can stain the wood dark to cover the dark stains or replace some of the floor boards.

...and with a six-pack or two of the right micro-brews, Floorguy would be willing to put on a few extra miles to do that job right...

Thanks, I can really kick my self for using a carpet shampoo machine but I didn't know I had hardwood floors underneath. I wonder if that white powder was mold. It had no smell. It had to be scraped off. The part that was dry was like white powder. It really doesn't look that bad but I think you are right sand and revarnish is what I need. I think they might turn out nice. But gee who knows what is under the other carpet.

Oh well thanks for the time. Iam still reading the other parts of the board.
And my goodness some of the photos are really nice floors

Trish

The white powder may be powder carpet deodorizer.


Gromit, I don't drink beer. I hate the taste and it gives me headache. Iced tea, and Coke Classic, are my drinks of choice, after a hard days work.

What color was the carpet backing?

I thought it might be that carpet deodorizer, It looked just like it. The man that works on my vacuum said to quit using it because it was hell on vacuums. Burns up motors.

Backing was yellow and green

The floor really doesn't look bad except down the center where the white stuff was. It also felt like sand. The part that was dry was real soft and came up easy.

Do you think where floor is now a lighter color where it was damp can be made to be all one color again or will stain always be very outlined.

The reason I ask I am considering doing the whole house but I know it is damp in the center also. Maybe I can do the hall myself and if it looks ok i'LL have the rest of the house done. Too much work for this gal.

Thanks so much

More than likely, that white sandy powder is dirt filtering down through the carpet and pad. On most carpet demos I've done, there will be a fine, whitish sandy powder under the pad. Plus, the carpet backing breaks down over time as well, creating more sandy powder. The wetness sort of glued it to your wood floors. Without seeing the floors, it's impossible to tell the condition they are in and whether or not sanding and refinishing will restore the flooring to like new condition. But a majority of times, sanding and refinishing will return an older floor into brand new condition. That's the beauty of solid wood flooring. A brand new floor is a 32th of an inch below the existing one. A floor sander will reveal it.

Well I want to thank you for all the info, The floors are not that bad but house is 50something years old. So I may try to find someone to give it a go. Even if they arent perfect Iam thinking it would still be nice

thanks again

The backing was yellow and green...

On second thought the white stuff you saw may have been latex fall out from the backing being abused and the yellow tells me badly abused. the green, well it seems the cat may have been using it as it's place to pee.

The backing is yellow and green squares, yes the cat was going in the corner that smelled now smell is gone..

The pad all down the sides is dry and in good shape only down the center of floor is damp..no smell that is not from cat. No cat could pee that much.. Heck you couldn't stand the smell. I paid 650 bucks for that cat I would of rather put that on the floors

Now the main thing is to see if it can be refinished. It's ashame because the part that is dry really looks nice already

I've looked at the photo section and wow some of those floors turned out just beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess Iam driving you nuts rambling on but thanks for any info

Trish

This weekend I was watching Flip this House and they pulled up carpet and darn if it wasn't the same problem I have..

So they sanded floor and it turned out great. So as soon as the holidays are over Iam going to have my floor done.

I wish some of you were in my area you all seem to have so much knowledge.

One more thing I know there is no way to know what this costs but can someone just give me some kind of figure on pricing, I have no idea what to even expect. I've heard very, very expensive...

Thanks again
Trish

That's a very subjective statement. What's "expensive" to one person is dirt cheap to another. I think in your neck of the woods, I'd expect an average of $2.50 a sq.ft. for refinishing. Some will be less. Make sure you get a GOOD finisher with excellent references. We hear nightmare stories here all the time about the "el cheapo" jobs. Better to wait a little while for the good contractor's schedule to open up than to have "el cheapo" do it now, only to have major problems that take months and months to resolve, if they ever do.