Glue down carpet removal - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

dayspring · 03-20-2006, 05:47 PM

I have a job coming up in an office. It has glue down commercial carpet on concrete in it. We have to take it out for remodeling.
I would like to know if anyone has any tips for removal. I've never attempted to do this, so any input will be appreciated.

ron schenker · 03-20-2006, 05:55 PM

How many sq.ft. is the job?

dayspring · 03-20-2006, 06:13 PM

1152 sf, + or -

N.E.Bldg&Rest.LLC · 03-20-2006, 06:18 PM

Your best bet would be to rent a machine to do it, I don't know the exact name of it it's like a power scraper. I did it by hand once using a shingle remover the flat shovel type

I'll never do it like that again I hurt for a week after that.

P.S. Make sure your shoes are on tight

Mike Costello · 03-20-2006, 06:31 PM

Before you rent anything grab a coner and pull. If it comes up but its kinda tough, you can cut the rug into strips about a foot wide and yank away.

ron schenker · 03-20-2006, 06:37 PM

If it was just a few hundred sq.ft. I would have said do it the backbreaking way like MP did. I've always done it this way and a number of times I got lucky because the carpet was not difficult to take up. Can you pull up a small section in an inconspicuos area and see how well it's glued? If it's bad check out H.Depot rental dept. and see what they have available to save your back!

PrecisionFloors · 03-20-2006, 06:40 PM

Most glue down carpet adhesive crystalizes after a few years. If this is the case you can just cut it into strips as Mike suggested. If this is not the case and it is a bear to get up, rent a machine or hire some grunt work and you should have it up in a few hours.

dayspring · 03-20-2006, 07:05 PM

Sounds as bad as I thought. I'm charging about 4.25 sf (labor)to remove, reckon thats enough? What about chemical removers? Anyone ever use them?

N.E.Bldg&Rest.LLC · 03-20-2006, 07:06 PM

the floor I worked on was in a hospital that had water damage the carpet guys were having a tough time with there machines, they said glue strength is color coded? there area had green glue and the area I was working had yellow.

dayspring · 03-20-2006, 07:37 PM

correction on labor price I listed, that was per SY

**Floorwizard** · 03-20-2006, 11:23 PM

Some come up easy, some hard.

either cut into managable strips, or rent a machine similiar to a sod cutter to get it out.

FlooringAce · 03-22-2006, 01:50 PM

Precision is right. Go with strips about a yard wide. Cut with the nap. Take out no more than 10-12 feet at a time. Use a long handle scrapper (12-15-inch width) to clear the stuck carpet after pull up. Normal commercial rate here in South FL runs about $3.50 sq/yd.

dayspring · 03-22-2006, 08:06 PM

Thanks everyone. Info should be helpful.

747 · 03-23-2006, 12:21 AM

I pulled up the carpet in my den which is a cement floor underneath last year before lowes came in to put down new. The carpet pulled right up. The pad was a different story. It had to be scrapped up. But not a problem had a poll scrapper in the garage. Took about a hour. When they installed new they went through several cans of this spray stuff over cement to hold the pad down. It wasn't that bad of a job. Once i got it all up. Just went over cement floor with shop vac. Then den use to be a one car garage attached to the house.

ps the den is like 24 long by 16 wide.

asbestos · 03-23-2006, 02:53 AM

the machine is called a terminator, and it rocks! it rolls that crap up in a neat little package. you can tie it up and stack them like cord wood
But
Try first it might be easy

FLOORING GURU · 03-27-2006, 08:34 PM

Glued Down Carpet Removal. This can be so painfull and gut wrenching you really start to wonder if its really worth it! All to often I run into glue downs that the carpet cannot be removed in more then 6 inch wide strips.A floor stripper will not take up the carpet it is only meant to take up the existing padding and glue residue from double glue down and rubber back carpet.There are large carpet puller machines you can rent but then you start getting into a grey area of time,money and profit!!?? Out of the thousand or so glue down rip ups Ive done I'd say at least half were taken up in 6 inch to 1 foot wide strips. This is probably the fastest way to get the job done as well.You can buy a tool that looks like a handle with teeth attached to it so it grabs the carpet and you can pull much better without straining your fingers.Another way is make two small slits after you get it started and put your hands in there like handles.It also helps if you work it at 45% angles making Z kind of pulling sequence. This is truly one of the worst things in the carpet business, remember take your knife and run it down the full length of the room making sure to cut all the way through you might have to change the blade in between.Make sure you get a carpet knife that holds slotted double sided blades,this will cut down a lot of time wasted changing endless utility blades. Need more help? Email me... cmflooring@comcast.net

soxfan · 04-01-2006, 08:48 PM

If you have time try one of the chemical bond breakers. You dilute them with water and let it soak overnight. Most times I just use elbow grease, but sometimes I swear the last guys were getting paid by the bucket instead of the yard. Just read the directions carefully on the bottle. You wouldn't want the next floor getting wrecked because the chemical wasn't cleaned up properly.

dayspring · 04-08-2006, 06:07 AM

Thanks everyone, I got the carpet up with no problem at all, Hooray!! BUT the glue is still there. It wasn't even stuck to the carpet hardly at all.The entire floor has been troweled with adhesive. They must have not rolled it out.

QUESTION: Does the glue have to come up to install another glue down on the same floor? This is a business (office). Or is there another application that you would suggest? Again, Thanks.

Mike Costello · 04-08-2006, 04:16 PM

You have a couple of options, you can leave the glue down and spread new over it but your gonna end up using twice as much glue.
Or you could scrape it up.
Or you could skim coat it with some ardex or another Portland base cement.

dayspring · 04-08-2006, 05:18 PM

If we leave the glue down, I'm afraid we won't get good adhesion due to dirt, ect from constuction of walls, drywall etc. so we may have to scrape it up. Thanks