How do I remove glued-on carpet? [solved]
I'm trying to remove carpet from a small closet in our bathroom (at most 3.5 ft by 3.5 ft). I started to remove it and it looks to have been glued around the perimeter. What's the easiest way to remove it? I recently bought a oscillating multi-tool so I'm wondering if that would work to loosen up the edges.
-M
UPDATE: I lucked out -- only part of the carpet was glued... the rest was actually nailed in and came up easy.
That being said, as a future homeowner, I'd like to hear suggestions for how to tackle this type of issue in the future.
First, cut away the non-glued part with a craft knife or carpet knife. Next, pull individual strands of the pile away from the mesh using a pliers. Optionally, sand down the remaining bits of the carpet using your multi-tool. Finally (and also optionally), patch any damage to the plywood subfloor with wood filler.
The last two steps are optional because it's in a small closet where nobody's going to notice any slight unevenness in the floor.
I had some low pile carpet that was glued down to the subfloor in an addition of my house -- it was one of the first things I took out. (although, I didn't get around to re-laying floor 'til some time after ... but the carpet was so nasty, it had to go, as it was near a not-quite secured door, and a bird managed to get in there and die)
I ended up cutting the carpet into managable strips (about 2-3 feet wide), then getting under it with something similar to a garden edger. (but it had a flat blade, not curved ... looks more like this 'scraper') I'm not sure what the tool was sold as ... I was storing my step-dad's gardening and other tools while he was stationed overseas.
It came up fairly easily, but there were globs of glue that I did some further scraping / belt sander / etc before laying new flooring (a bamboo floating floor)
I scraped up sections of carpet with an ice scraper. I then poured small amounts of lacquer thinner on the wood floor and waited a few minutes for the glue to soften. I used the scraper to get it clean to the wood. Caution was used with flammability issues and fumes but it easily came up with this method.
How to remove glued indoor outdoor carpet
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