This Is The BEST TOOL For Glued-Down Flooring! (Carpet Removal/Floor Adhesive Removal)

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QEP 14” FLOOR SCRAPER
8” HARD FLOOR SCRAPER
ABN 8” RAZOR SCRAPER
UTILITY KNIFE

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I recently had to take up the glued-down carpet in my new shop space. This is never a pleasant task--but I couldn't believe how difficult it was to remove this particular carpet!

The original adhesive was still very effective in parts of the floor. Removing the carpet and getting down to something like the original slab took several hours over two days.

It's best to cut carpet into smaller squares with a sharp utility knife (carefully!) Pull carpet sections up from two sides, if possible, with a sawing motion.

When carpet or flooring sticks this badly, though, you need to bring tools into the picture. An 8" hard scraper was the best thing I found for a carpet this stubborn. You can swipe it under the edges with speed and force, and slowly get a portion of the carpet lifted.

Once the carpet was pulled up around the room, I then had to deal with at least some of the adhesive still down on the floor. Sometimes, if dry and brittle, this adhesive can be scraped up with an 8" razor scraper. But, this adhesive was still too stubborn.

In the end, I had to use a low-VOC flooring stripper. I didn't document this much, because it's a dangerous chemical process. (I'll work with a flooring company in the future for this.)

But, it still makes a horrible mess. In this case, I found that a 14" hard scraper was better to cover more surface area. I added sawdust to the floor at times just to cut down on the residue left behind.

In the end the shop got cleared and everything swept out the door. It was tedious, but I'm not ready for the rest of the shop build.

Thanks for watching! Be sure to visit us at The Honest Carpenter website:

[gundersonflooringanddesign]

To get difficult glued down carpet up. You have to put on your knee pads and get a bunch of blades ready for your knife. Simply go up and down the room cutting in one foot strips. Just press the knife down hard into the concrete and keep going. The blade will be done after one pass. Change your blade and keep doing it across the room. Then you grab one piece of the rug and you'll only have the tension of a 12-in slice of carpet. Pick it up. Then walk with it and tear it off the floor. We've had to rip up carpet that was glued down the previous day. We had to cut it into three inch strips in order to rip it up.

Anyhow as far as the glue on the floor. That's crazy taking the glue up. Vacuum the floor real well, then use floor leveler... two thin coats. It's Portland base and pretty hard. The glue is usually stuck to the floor so well that putting the floor leveler over the top is just fine. Anyhow I wish you posted this before you started the job I could have saved you a big filthy mess and a lot of backbreaking tearout.
Your channel is great. You've given me lots of helpful hints. I wish I could have returned the favor before you started this job.

[stans]

I have been using that 14" scraper since 1995. It got up tile flooring like a dream.
It also has been the best way to chop ice and scrape sidewalks in the winter. The blade vibrates when chopping ice which breaks it up. I also use it for edging my sidewalks in the summer too.

[obsmom]

The tool I used to pull up seriously glued down linoleum was an electric scraper we rented from Home Depot. It uses a sharp blade and once you get the blade between the flooring and the foundation, it lifts and curls it like shaved chocolate! I think it would work on glued down carpet as well as long as it was precut into reasonable strips. HD provided me with a new blade and I got up about 1500 sq ft before I needed a new blade.
You did a good job here with that nasty carpet, Honest Carpenter! It can be backbreaking work.

[mekmekoo]

I've done this kind of job with carpet or vinyl hundreds of times. Here are some pro tips.
1. This will sound counter intuitive but take the time to cut it up into as small sections as time allows. The smaller the sections, the less glue you are fighting when you are pulling on it.
2. Use a hook blade on your knife. The hook blade pulls itself down into the work so you don't have to push it down. Makes a world of difference.
3. Use a heat gun in the areas where the glue is very stubborn. Be very careful with carpet though as it can catch fire. I recommend having a water extinguisher at hand.
4. Lightly dampen the carpet before you start work. This will minimise the amount of dust that becomes airborne.

[luvr]

When I replaced my brother's kitchen floor I got varying widths of scraper blades made to use in a reciprocating saw, had to work on my knees but it was the cheapest option for a powered scraper. Worked pretty well.

[mpmrla]

Nice video. I had a floor scraping job that destroyed two types of manual scrapers and also destroyed a new scraper blade in my demo saw. The job entailed removing old glued down vinyl tile on a concrete floor after having already removed a layer of glued down carpet tile. I needed a tool that was narrow and heavy. My wrist are to old to handle pushing a scraper. I took a $6.00 masons chisel cut the head off ground a 30 sharp edge on it and stuck it inside the end of a 5' section of 1" heavy duty metal pipe. I then hammered the end of the pipe flat against the shoulders of the chisel. This tool made short work of the job
and was very easy on my wrist because it was heavy enough to let the tool do the work.

[tommybootlegger]

I'm a maintenance guy fighting with this crap at work right now. Believe it or not, vinegar and seriously hot water actually work fairly well to soften the left over glue up too if you don't want to use chemicals. Btw, sounds like you moved down the road from my old home town. If you're into fishing or boating, you should check out Belews lake if you haven't already.

[DaveDoesCarpentry]

I’ve done a job like this and relied on using a knife the entire time. Next time would definitely try your method!

[georgeferlazzo]

The Honest Carpenter
Dave, you are the man. From listening to you. It sounds like you've done this a time or two. I've only done it once, helping a friend. Who said how easy it was. Never again. Otherwise, thank you for another Great Video.

[bjtx]

You were determined & you did it!! Congratulations on accomplishing such a nightmare task . It started a great conversation.Good luck with your new shop. I'm looking forward to each new video!

[dianedo]

I Wished I knew about this tool for my mom’s glue from hardwood floor after Harvey’s hit in 2017!! Thanks for the vid- great stuff as always! 👍

[benharrison]

Ethan, like anything else, the harder you have to work to put your new shop together to your satisfaction then the prouder and happier you will be with the end product. Everything will take time and effort, but just keep at it. Nice start in this video.

[dutchcreek]

Bought the scraper while watching your video. Made quick work of 400 sq ft of glued down commercial carpet two days later. The Honest Carpenter is in my head!

[RiseSteadyNC]

Hey I’m from NC too! Never realized that you were. Thank you for your videos

[MarkRVillano]

I worked on a commercial office space renovation job back in the 80's. The main area was an old cubicle farm where all the partitions had been removed, and all that was left was the carpet. It was cheap, low pile / high traffic stuff that was all but impossible to remove because it had been installed using black mirror adhesive. It took the laborers days to get it up, but there was one tiny patch that came up easy because there was no glue underneath it. In that spot, the installer had drawn a smiley face, and written "Ha, ha! Bet you guys had fun removing THIS carpet!"

[vincentwesolowski]

Scrapers work fairly well. Did you ever think about renting a floor buffer with a scarifying pad for the last step?

[debbiekerr]

I'm not sure when the carpet was put down, but some adhesives give off toxic fumes! That's why you did the right thing by getting a respirator.

[cge]

I just pulled up some glue down carpet on plywood. Used my Dewalt 4-1/2 20 volt circle saw with the blade put on backwards. Set the depth about 3/16” 8 was able to pull up 1 ft strips. (Much easier) you need to keep adjusting the depth till you get it just right. As I pulled it up I needed to also cut some fibers with the blade. Much easier then pulling it all at once..

[realgoku]

I love this person's stuff because always honest !!!

[stevenmoss]

I worked for a carpet company, as a young man. We had a glue down removal, once at a club. It was brutal! We cut a lot of strips, and tried to use as little force as possible. It was an all day project.