Changing Up the Flooring? How to Remove Carpet Glue

If you’ve recently moved into a new home, you might decide to change out the carpets in the house either to expose the wood flooring underneath or to add in a newer rug or carpet design.

The challenge is, once you start ripping out the carpet, you’ll notice glue marks that are stuck due to years of working to keep the carpet in place. These problematic remnants are often more challenging to get rid of than the actual carpet itself.

Thankfully, some elbow grease combined with the following basic DIY instructions will help.

Are you an expert on glue? Probably not, which is why you need to figure out the type of glue you are dealing with before you begin. You see, there’s a bunch of different carpet glues and removing the various kinds requires different solutions and steps.

In the simplest terms, tar-based adhesives are dark brown or tan, while yellow-looking adhesives signify a carpet was glued down with a more general adhesive. Knowing the difference will make your job much simpler.

With that in mind, go to your local Home Depot or hardware store and buy the best materials to get the job done. For tar-based glues, mineral spirits are required, while general adhesives are best removed with some basic adhesive remover. Both will require some hard scrubbing.

However, the process itself is easy. Simply begin by scraping off any spots you can, but don’t dig in too deep as you can damage the floor. Next, add the adhesive remover, spreading it out evenly. Read the instructions carefully to ensure you keep it on the correct amount of time. Also, since many of these can be toxic, be sure to wear gloves and keep the windows open to allow ventilation inside the room.

Next, take a plastic putty knife to scrape any glue away as this won’t scratch or scuff the floor like a metal tool will. If the glue isn’t completely wiped away, follow the instructions again and add more remover to the spot. This time use an old towel to wipe away the remaining glue.

Once all the glue is gone and the floor has dried, vacuum the area so no glue particles remain. Buy some floor cleaner and polish up the wood floor and you’ll have a floor to remember and make new memories on.