Hardwood Floors Covered By Carpet - Mailbag

Question- We found two layers of old linoleum over an older wood floor in a kitchen. It's murder trying to get up especially that black stuff they used to glue it down. Is there a glue remover we can use? Any suggestions?

Reply- Heat guns have been known to loosen up older floor coverings.

Question- I have red oak floors that were previously covered by carpet. They are in fairly good condition except that they have no finish (polyurethane) on them. Since we haven't been able to afford to refinish them right away, we have had area rugs mostly over them. I have also (which I am wondering now may have been a mistake) been cleaning them with a product made from orange oil since it is the only product that I could find that said could be used on unfinished wood. BTW, when I use this product to clean them, the floors look beautiful afterward. Now that I am finally going to have them refinished, I am worried that this product may have adverse effects with a polyurethane finish, like the finish may not adhere or something. The floors will be sanded prior to having a finish put on them. Since I don't know how much this orange oil is absorbed by the wood, I am wondering if it may cause a problem with a new finish. Any help?

Reply- Chances are very good you will have finish bonding problems with the newly finished floors. It really depends on how much the floor has absorbed over time.

Question- We just bought our dream home fixer upper, pulled the carpet up and found old hardwood floors underneath but they didn't install any in the middle of the floor. Now we have what we thought may be a jewel as you so elegantly put it on one of your web pages. Why did they do this and is and what kind of options do we have here?

Reply- At one time there was probably a large area rug in the middle of the room. In cases like this hardwood was installed around the perimeter and plywood inserted in the middle. It was likely a cost reduction issue.

You have a few options. Call in an experienced installer and install what they call an inset. He can put together a variety of design ideas, but it will require a lot of work. The question is how square the area is at the moment? If it's out of square he will have to re-cut or trim the old to accept the new.

Question- The old floor in my mothers old house has pet pee stains everywhere. I've heard there is a stain remover I can use so it will look like new. Do you have a source?

Reply- I've heard of a few solutions that some claim work. The best looking solution is removing the stained areas and replacing with similar hardwood that was used in the day. Often you can remove some hardwood from closets, but older homes didn't really have much closet space. You could designate one room as the source for removal and just install new back in it's place, stain it dark, or cover it up with a nice area rug.

Question- Help! We just pulled up some old nasty carpet, removed the tack strip, but now there are stains and holes in the floor from the nails. Can this be sanded out and filled with putty?

Reply- The stains are caused by moisture that affected the nails. They've basically rusted and seeped into the grain of the hardwood. Not all of it cannot be sanded out. The nail holes will probably be so small only you may notice them after the floor is finished. But there are several types of floor filler that can be used.

Question- Hi great site. Do you have any ideas how we can fix the old radiator holes that are left in the floor after we changed our heating system? TIA

Reply- Depending on how large they are I've heard some use special made plugs that are tapered on the bottom. You can just hammer them into the floor, refinish and you're done. If that doesn't work for you, boards can easily be replaced in the area by an experienced professional.
 

Question- A project that we will be undertaking in the near future is refinishing a lot of hardwood flooring that has been covered up by carpet/tile for many years. I've never done any of this type of work. I've tried to do some research in order to determine the best way to go about it. Do you think I'm nuts for thinking about doing this without a professional?

Reply- Nuts? Nah, I would have to say bold. I've known some poor finishers that for some reason still get work, but I've also seen some do it yourselfers do better work. One big concern with refinishing hardwood floors would be how well you can handle a drum sander. A few major boo-boos and the floor can be ruined. Renting them could be another concern because who knows if they've been maintained properly. You could just go crazy with a machine without knowing it's out of balance and before you know it there are some marks that may take twice the time to repair once the machine is fixed.