How to easily remove old carpet glue

Planning

Before you begin removing carpet glue, find out what type of floor adhesive you’re dealing with. This will help you find the right tools and utilities, saving yourself a lot of time and effort during the project.

What type of adhesive is stuck underneath?

Determining the type of adhesive that’s underneath your carpet is an essential first step. Most carpets are attached with classic adhesive strips, water-insoluble adhesive and synthetic resin, or sometimes water-soluble adhesive.

This last type of adhesive is always good news for DIYers, as it can be removed from the floor with just a little water. With water-insoluble glues and adhesive strips, however, the process is a little more difficult.

To identify the type of adhesive you’re dealing with, first cut out a piece of the carpet with a box cutter. Water-soluble adhesive can be wiped away with soapy water, washing-up liquid, and a sponge, while more stubborn carpet adhesive can be removed with a sander or scraper.

Use these devices to remove carpet adhesive

Power tools are sometimes required to remove carpet glue. An angle grinder or sander can work wonders, particularly on concrete and cement.

Depending on the surface, you may even need to rent a floor stripper to peel away the carpet before sanding. Be careful, though, as these devices are heavy and unsuitable for smaller areas. Lighter devices are best for natural floors, as these cause less damage to wood, tiles, and laminate.

Generally, devices like orbital sanders, random orbit sanders, and floor sanders are best. Make sure you always wear a mask and keep the room well-ventilated to ensure you’re not inhaling toxic fumes or dust. Mechanical sanders also use a lot of sandpaper because the quick rotational movements often cause the adhesive residue to liquefy and damage the sandpaper, making it unusable.

Find more information in our guide to sanding wood and metal.

Removing old carpet adhesive: Is it really necessary?

The longer your carpet has been around, the older the adhesive. Modern fittings use water-soluble glues, but that was not always the case with older fittings. This means you may encounter stubborn residue during renovations that’s a fair bit harder to get rid of. In the worst case scenario, you’re left with old adhesive even after sanding or using solvents.

If you don’t want to spend hours painstakingly removing every last bit of adhesive, the good news is you don’t have to! Sanding down and removing old carpet glue is only necessary if you want the underlying floor to show or if you’re not using floating floors.

You can remove carpet adhesive residue if you want to but it’s not essential if you’re laying laminate or parquet flooring, for instance. These flooring types can be applied directly over adhesive residue.

However, it’s still important to note potential height differences. Levelling the floor with a cement-based compound may help. If you plan to leave adhesive residue on screed floors, treating the floor with an epoxy primer will ensure that the levelling compound sticks to the screed.

You must also pay attention to the installation height when using a levelling compound. This is because floating floors need an additional insulation layer on top of the cement-based compound, which means you must carefully calculate the available space before starting the work.

Unsure what to replace your old carpet with? Get inspired by our home ideas and trends!

Removing carpet adhesive from screed

Screed is applied directly to the building’s structure and forms the base for a floor covering. There are many ways you can remove old carpet glue from a screed floor.

The hairdryer is one of the most popular household remedies. The hot air gradually softens the carpet adhesive, allowing you to scrape off the residue with a spatula after a short while. However, this process often takes a bit of time and energy, so many DIYers prefer the industrial alternative: a steam cleaner. This is ideal for larger areas and can be hired from almost any DIY store.

Using a grinder is also a lot quicker than a hairdryer. Make sure to ventilate the room well and use protective equipment like masks and ear defenders, as larger machines like concrete grinders tend to generate a lot of dust and noise.

There’s also a wide range of chemical products available for removing old carpet glue, but they carry the major risk of damaging the floor covering beneath the carpet. This is particularly unsuitable for vinyl and plastic flooring. Plus, carpet adhesive remover is usually expensive and far from eco-friendly.

Apply the carpet adhesive remover and leave for 15 minutes, before using a spatula or scraper to remove the loosened residue. Although these products appear to save time and work at first glance, you must thoroughly clean the floor with water afterwards and leave it to dry. The same applies when using acetone to remove adhesive from screed. Whatever chemical product you use, always remember to wear protective clothing and keep the windows open while you work!

Removing carpet adhesive from other floor coverings

If you want to remove carpet glue from wooden, parquet, or laminate flooring, you can use an electric scraper or a multifunction tool with a scraper attachment. These tools are practical and versatile, helping you with corners, edges, gaps, and larger areas.

Using an angle grinder with a wire brush is a lot less delicate, but it’s suitable to use if you’re not planning on keeping the screed visible. However, if you want to paint the screed or remove carpet fixings from wood or parquet, for example, you should avoid using a wire brush, as this causes unsightly scratches.

Every carpet has a different surface underneath, which means there are a diverse range of tools and methods you can use to remove carpet glue. Whether you use a scraper, adhesive remover, soapy water, washing-up liquid, or a sander, keep reading to learn the best way to remove carpet adhesive.

Concrete

Removing carpet glue from concrete usually requires a grinder or floor stripper. While it's possible to use hot air to remove carpet adhesive from concrete, a powerful sanding machine promises fast and effective work with relatively little effort. Make sure you have a hoover and protective equipment to hand, as this process stirs up significant dust and dirt.

Wood and parquet

You should always take care not to scratch or damage wood and parquet floors when removing carpet adhesive. This means you should avoid using heavy equipment and use a hand scraper or multifunction tool instead. The tool’s movement speed and attachments can be adjusted to suit your requirements, plus it helps you work in hard-to-reach places.

If you’d rather not use machines, you can use household products like water and washing-up liquid to remove old carpet glue. Use these to soak water-soluble carpet adhesives for about an hour, after which you can carefully remove the residue with a spatula.

Tiles

Water and washing-up liquid is a great combination for removing carpet glue from tiles – just make sure to soak them for as long as possible! You can also use solvents on shiny tiles and joints, but not for matt tiles as this damages them. Check out our separate guide on removing tile adhesive for more information.

You can use a hairdryer if you only want to remove carpet glue from a small area of tiles, but you must thoroughly clean the tiled floor beforehand. If you find that some tiles have been damaged under the old carpet, you can simply replace them or repair them using our DIY tips.

Stone flooring

If carpet has been laid on top of natural stone, you cannot use hot air to remove it. This is because as soon as adhesive residue is heated, it could flow into the natural pores of the stone floor. After this happens, the stone is practically impossible to clean thoroughly.

Cooking oil is also out of the question for removing carpet glue from stone, as it could leave unsightly grease stains on the material’s surface. For the best results on stone flooring, you should use soapy water or washing-up liquid. Again, you should soak the adhesive residue for at least an hour before scraping it off.

How do I level out the cleaned surface after removing carpet glue?

Even if you were able to remove most of the adhesive, there’s usually small patches left on the floor. If you can’t remove the rest of the glue or plan on laying a floating floor afterwards, you can use a cement-based levelling compound to level out the floor and remove any unevenness. You can buy levelling compounds from any good DIY store.

Is old carpet adhesive harmful to your health?

Toxic carpet adhesives and binding agents such as PCBs, PAHs, and formaldehyde were commonly used in floor coverings until the end of the 1970s. This means that many people encounter harmful substances when removing carpet glue, particularly in old properties. These chemicals have been proven to emit dangerous fumes and should therefore never be heated.

You can test whether an old carpet adhesive is harmful by simply smelling and feeling the air in the room. A black, yellow, or brown colour can also be a potential indication of harmful substances. If the floor covering is fixed with an adhesive containing PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), you should always call in a specialist.

Safety tips for removing carpet adhesive

You should always protect yourself, even when removing non-toxic carpet glue. Wear ear defenders, gloves, and a mask when using sanders, grinders, or other tools. Keep your windows open and the room well-ventilated to ensure dust, dirt, and toxic fumes can escape. You can find more tips on DIY safety precautions in our guide.

Removing carpet glue: Your step-by-step guide

Below, we’ve laid out a brief overview of the steps you should take to successfully remove carpet glue and create a smooth, reusable floor.