# Adhesive/cardboard residue on hardwood floors



## veitch_st (Feb 25, 2007)

I am redoing my kitchen and removed three layers of flooring (slate and two layers of vinyl). Underneath all that was an old carboard backerboard covering a hardwood floor. I removed the backerboard, but the hardwood is covered with cardboard and adhesive residue. Is there any way to remove the residue besides scraping it off one plank at at time? Thanks.


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## glennjanie (Feb 25, 2007)

Welcome to the Forum, Veitch:
Most rental places have a carpet/vinyl removal machine. They do a dandy job of scraping things off the floor, be it wood or concrete. When using it on wood you will need to travel the length of the boards; going across them will allow the blade to dig into the wood. Check it out and let us know how it went.
Glenn


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## HozyAlledly (Nov 10, 2009)

What's up everyone, I'm new to the forum and just wanted to say hey. Hopefully I posted this in the right section!


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## travelover (Nov 10, 2009)

HozyAlledly said:


> What's up everyone, I'm new to the forum and just wanted to say hey. Hopefully I posted this in the right section!




Ahhhh.....sure! Welcome!


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Nov 10, 2009)

Veitch:

The electric scrapers that Glenn Janie is talking about are used over concrete flooring, but I'd be real concerned about what they'd do to a much softer hardwood floor.  I'd be concerned that an electric floor stripper would make match sticks out of it.

What I'd do instead is see if either water, mineral spirits, lacquer thinner (which is mostly toluene, or acetone) will dissolve the old adhesive.  If any of them do, then put down some solvent over an area and immediately cover with wax paper to prevent the solvent from evaporating.  As the solvent penetrates through the cardboard to the glue at the cardboard/glue interface, it will soften the glue at that interface making the cardboard easy to scrape off the glue with a putty knife.  As the solvent penetrates deeper and deeper into the glue, it should make the glue easier to remove by scraping with either a putty knife of paint scraper.

None of the above mentioned solvents will harm wood.  (Water will make wood swell and possibly raise it's grain if there's no wax or polyurethane over the wood.)  Mineral spirits won't harm polyurethane, but the other two solvents will etch polyurethane and probably dissolve Carnauba Wax.  But, in all liklihood, you're going to have to refinish the hardwood anyway.

I'd try removing the cardboard and adhesive in the vicinity of the kitchen sink first.  That's the area where the hardwood is likely to be in the worst condition, and that's where you're probably gonna most need refinishing.


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