Removal of rubber backed carpet

[rick...@my-deja.com]

With the recent flood water from hurricane Floyd we've had to remove
all of the carpeting in the downstairs area of our raised ranch home.
(No flooding in 27 years and now . . .) I've managed to pull up all
the carpeting but there is a small problem. The carpet was the rubber
backed kind. So now we have the carpets removed but the cement floor
is covered by about a 1/4 of an inch of rubber backing from the
carpets.

We've decided to put ceramic tiles down in stead of carpeting but we
can't seem to get the rubber off of the cement floor. The person who's
doing the tile suggested boiling water and paint scrapers to peel off
the rubber. But that's not working out so well. I guess that it
doesn't help that the cement floor is pitted also; making scraping that
much more difficult.

We've tried the following without much success:

Paint scraping tools
Paint stripper bit attachment for a power drill
Ice scrapers (garden hoe type tool)
Wetting the floor with hot soapy water
Wetting the floor with boiling water
Acetone
Stone and Tile Remover
WD-40

We're about to rent a floor waxer with a scrubber matt-thingy on it in
the hopes that it will work.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

-Rick T.

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[Grant P. Beagles]

A number of years ago ago, we were faced with the same task. Our soultion
was to rent a linolium stripper. The machine is basically a knife blade
(that moves along the floor) mounted on the front of a heavy vibrator. I
have also used it to strip an old vinyl floor off of concrete with great
results. When we took up the carpet, we didn't need any chemicals, just a
strong back and a little patience!

Good luck!

[trk]

I have made this suggestion before, and got a bit of a rubbishing by the
safety experts, but believe me it works, and works a treat
first get as much of the rubber off with a sharp spade or custom made
scraper, then pour on gasoline which will soften the rest and allow easy
removal (with the spade/scraper)
remember - keep it well ventilated, and no naked flames
we did 50 sq meteres like this

[Pat Strong]

trk wrote:

> I have made this suggestion before, and got a bit of a rubbishing by the
> safety experts, but believe me it works, and works a treat
> first get as much of the rubber off with a sharp spade or custom made
> scraper, then pour on gasoline which will soften the rest and allow easy
> removal (with the spade/scraper)
> remember - keep it well ventilated, and no naked flames
> we did 50 sq meteres like this
>

GASOLINE are you kidding???? Do you want to blow someone up?? Just the
friction of scraping the sub flooring could cause a spark to ignite the whole
mess!

[Pat Strong]

What ever you do DO NOT use gasoline! Scraping on the concrete could cause a
spark. BOOM, Carpeting will be the last of your problems. Other solvents
are also hazardous but don't have the heavy gas that just hangs around
waiting to explode.

It isn't an easy process as you already have experienced. Just go slow, do
small areas, use a stronger solvent like paint thinner, lacquer thinner, or
if all else fails straight Xylene. Also, sharpen your paint scraper every so
often. Keep it clean and sharp and you should be able to "shave" off the
gunk. Check with your tile installer, but it shouldn't matter too much if
the pits in the concrete have a little crud in them. Cleaner is better
though. You might do a Tom Sawyer and con some friends to help, or if you
are in a flood site, maybe volunteer helpers are around and can spread out
this VERY labor intensive job. I did a tile adhesive removal by doing the
boiling water thing, but when the water cooled it stopped working. I figured
the heat was the thing, so I did make some progress with just a heat gun.
Just make sure that you haven't soaked everything with solvent before you
start with that one!
Good Luck

Pat

Write back and tell us what worked.

[chuckie...@my-deja.com]

Hi,

I used to work in the floor covering business and we always used the
big vibrating machine with the blade on the front as mentioned by
someone else here. You need a little patience, but it is well worth it!

Ray D.

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Before you buy.

[inter...@my-deja.com]

In article <37EC97D4...@networx.net.au>,

t...@networx.net.au wrote:
> I have made this suggestion before, and got a bit of a rubbishing by
the
> safety experts, but believe me it works, and works a treat
> first get as much of the rubber off with a sharp spade or custom made
> scraper, then pour on gasoline which will soften the rest and allow
easy
> removal (with the spade/scraper)
> remember - keep it well ventilated, and no naked flames
> we did 50 sq meteres like this
>

> > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/

> > Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
>

Rick,
There is a machine called "The Stripper", you can rent this machine at
some U-rent-it shops.(call first) It consist of a 16" wide blade
mounted on a vibrating machine. Basically sharp enough to cut all
materail away from the concrete.
Questions: www.thefloornetwork.com
Bob

[dirty...@gmail.com]

I had the same problem on a wooden floor, and used an old round shovel that had been slightly squared (about 3-4 inches) from scraping ice off the driveway. Much easier than hand scrapers.