I pulled out my carpet & underneath there are beautiful hardwood floors. There is black stuff on them that when scraped comes out in a dust like matter. First off what is this, & secondly what would be the easiest way to get that stuff off. I used a metal putty knife but it was knicking up the wood to much. Any suggustions? [/img]

Could be black asbestos cutback adhesive, but that is just a guess.

Please tell me that isnt true? in 1998, I was doing a job for a company in WI, pulled up 1100 feet of carpet (all with that, and maple floors under) Some 40 paper made quick work of it, I was 18ish and never wore a mask.

My wife (social worker) worked for the Canadian Cancer Society. She regularly saw asbestos related cancers. From what she told me, it generally results from long-term exposure, so you're probably just fine after a brief exposure like that.

Either way, you may want to get looked at just to be safe. I remember she told me it is one of the cancers which doesn't typically get noticed (ie symptoms) until it's way too late. Not to sound alarmist or anything, but better safe than sorry. I'd feel bad if I didn't mention this and it turned out to be something.. =)

Since you mentioned the dust like appearance when removed. It leads me to think of old rubber back carpet. It turns to dust over time. Cutback adhesive would be hard to remove efficiently with a putty knife.

Just a suggestion:

I once came accross a black addhesive of some kind that was trowled on. Sanding was going to be a drag, it gunked up the sandpaper really fast. then purely by accident it got wet and when I went to clean it up the addhesive came up with it. The removal ended up being a breaze.

Try water first.

As a grade schooler I remember making an aztek village with powdered asbestos mixed with water. The good old days.

It is the constant exposure to it that creates trouble, such as in the asbestos mines in Quebec. If you were exposing yourself to it constantly from pulling up old flooring over a number of years there may be something to worry about. Unfortunately asbestos exposure has become a hot button item. One job isn't going to do it.