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have a customer that wants old carpet glued to there back porch removed...

5K views 29 replies 20 participants last post by  Hank B. 
#1 ·
Wondering if there's a certain adhesive remover that works best or trade secret to removing the carpet and glue as simple as possible....
I was thinking of using a scraper and adhesive remover that home Depot supplies and giving it a shot?

Any better suggestions?
 
#6 · (Edited)
We did something like this last year. The client wanted to remove blue exterior carpet that had been glued to their concrete steps and porch. The carpet came up easy enough, but the adhesive residue was ugly and resistant to everything.

We used a razor scraper to scrape it off the smooth concrete porch. For the rough concrete steps we used a 4 1/2" grinder with a diamond blade held nearly parallel to the surface and a very light touch.

We tried thinners, strippers, solvents, wire brushes, wire cups, stripping wheels, grinding wheels and anything else we could lay our hands on, but the diamond wheel was the most effective. It was labor intensive (about 1 hour per 4' step) but the surface looked brand new when we finished.
 
#25 ·
Sounds like what was on my own front and back entry when I bought the house I live in to this day. I've done ZILLIONS of adhesive removals with every product and piece of equipment known to man and in my 30+ years of commercial work I NEVER saw anything so tough to come off. It was an artificial grass carpet that peeled off tough enough but the glue-------forget about it. I tried every trick in the book but yeah, diamond grinding off the skin of the slab is the onliest way that ultimately worked.

I'd imagine this particular glue was an exception----overkill by a factor of 10. Most adhesives could be removed with all the normal Mickey Mouse BS do-it-yourself tools and poisons.
 
#7 ·
Wondering if there's a certain adhesive remover that works best
There is, but I think we need more information.

or trade secret to removing the carpet and glue as simple as possible....
:thumbsup: Thank you. Got a b*tch*ss week coming up and a good laugh is always appreciated.

Cut up the carpet and have some inebriated relatives grab it and jerk it back like a new democrat trying to separate you from your paycheck.

Scrape off the remaining and throw it in the garbage. The trick is to get the remnants the ability to vote...... Should be pretty easy. :D
 
#9 ·
CO762 said:
There is, but I think we need more information.

:thumbsup: Thank you. Got a b*tch*ss week coming up and a good laugh is always appreciated.

Cut up the carpet and have some inebriated relatives grab it and jerk it back like a new democrat trying to separate you from your paycheck.

Scrape off the remaining and throw it in the garbage. The trick is to get the remnants the ability to vote...... Should be pretty easy. :D
Now that is some slick wording.:thumbsup:
 
#11 ·
I have never had any success with liquid removers. it gets really sticky and messy fast. the fumes kill you and besides its really flammable. the only way to go is dry scraping and grinding. you can try a torch and a scraper blade sometimes it helps to heat small areas and then quickly scrape while its hot but you have to control the exhaust and make sure you don't breathe it.
 
#12 ·
There's a henry product for doing this that I used on the hardwood floor from hell that worked pretty well. Home depot here carries it. Mix with water 1to4 & apply with a pump sprayer. Guy that turned me onto it does strictly carpet & he says they saturate the carpet with it for a few hours before even attemting to remove the carpet. It's not extremely fastbut does work.

Disclaimer, do not use on osb, it'll disolve the glue in it as well.
 
#14 ·
You leave a lot of information out, how much carpet? Is the glue gummy or brittle? Installers don't like to use much glue since they're paying for it. What does the customer want down after products are removed?
I was amazed at one Home Depot , two actually from my travels. Scrap that adhesive remover idea, I'd go mechanical removal, but what will be final surface? Pearl hexpin on a buffer(home depot rental) but depending on hardness of concrete may dig into slab, Oh you damaged my slab now what beautiful surface are you going to put over it.
 
#15 ·
You leave a lot of information out, how much carpet? Is the glue gummy or brittle? Installers don't like to use much glue since they're paying for it. What does the customer want down after products are removed?
I was amazed at one Home Depot , two actually from my travels. Scrap that adhesive remover idea, I'd go mechanical removal, but what will be final surface? Pearl hexpin on a buffer(home depot rental) but depending on hardness of concrete may dig into slab, Oh you damaged my slab now what beautiful surface are you going to put over it.
The area I have to do is 300 square feet (includes 3 stairs). It's a back porch outside.... The product going over is a deck tile names Kandy Flooring. KandyOutdoorFlooring.ca

The carpets still down so I don't know the type of glue used. The carpets still bonded down well.
 
#16 ·
If its not covered they may have used exterior carpet glue solvent based, if covered probably a latex based adhesive. Depending on quality and quantity of glue will determine how wide of a strip to cut to peel back. I briefly looked up the kandy flooring tile , it appears to be floating interlocking type in which if it is not sticky you may just use a flat scraper to knock down the brittle ridges. It kinda depends on age of glue and carpet if it is breaking down.
 
#26 ·
Before you decide how to remove the glue, you must pull up the carpet. Any thing before that is just speculation. Could be latex glue, could be outdoor glue, heck I have even seen liquid nail used. Oh, latex adhesive will work fine outside, as long as it is completely dry before it gets hit by rain. I worked for one store that used it exclusively. Most customers don't want to pay the huge upbump in price for outdoor adhesive.
 
#27 ·
I notice your in Toronto. I'm in Toronto & the GTA as well dude. There is this place at Dupont and Bathurst area, on Dupont though. They have cleaning supplies and might have an industrial strength remover there, I picked some stuff up there last summer when I was renovating this restaurant I maintain regularly. If not then you might have to use a scrapper.
 
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