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Repairing hardwood floors after removing carpet?

15 years ago

We just removed the carpet & pad from our stairs and upstairs hallway and were pleasantly surprised to find that the hardwood floors underneath are in better shape than we expected. I had been planning to replace the carpet, but the estimate came in at over $5,000 (combination of a lot of waste due to odd-shaped hallway plus I did pick expensive carpet). So, now I'm trying to figure out if I could just leave the hardwood floors rather than start shopping for less expensive carpet. The main reason I was planning to get new carpet was to cover any damage from the old carpet.

The floors are red oak & they match the floors in the rest of the house. I don't think I can re-finish them without creating an abrupt transition between the hallway and every other room (& I have zero appetite to remove all the furniture to refinish the rest of the floors, which are in good condition).

We removed all the staples and the holes are not that noticeable (certainly something I could live with to save thousands). BUT, there are strips of wood all along the edges of the hallway with nails sticking up that held down the carpet. These strips are about 1" wide (the size of a yardstick) and appear to be both glued and nailed down (I couldn't pry them up with a screwdriver). I'm afraid that once these are pulled up there will be glue residue and large nail holes. There is already a 4" high moulding along the bottom of the walls, but no quarter round moulding in the front. I don't think a single row of quarter round moulding would be deep enough to cover the damage -- could I somehow build up the moulding with a double row of quarter-round (or something similar) so that it covers any damage underneath these nail strips?

Also, there are a few places with old paint drips (probably from 2 or 3 owners ago). Is there any way to get these up?

I've heard of people "screening" floors rather than sanding & refinishing them. Would that be a way to cover the nail holes but still keep the finish similiar to the adjacent rooms? (I believe the current finish is oil-based and it has yellowed with age).

thanks in advance for any suggestions!

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Comments (5)

amrad
15 years ago
You could try lifting the strips up using a 5 in 1 tool. Another option is to get a wood chisel, and split the wood carpet strips with the grain removing small slivers, once the strip is removed you should be able to scrape the glue off.
floorguy
15 years ago
Slide a wide putty knife under the tackstrip, gently. Use it as a floor protection, to pry against so your not prying on the wood floor directly.
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Your floors are in very nice condition for their age and appear to be polyurethane finished. Pros may disagree. They appear to have some minimal wear - not bad at all. Are you currently living in the house? That does make a difference with dealing with dust, etc.. If these were MY floors I would do a light sanding and cleaning (I think they call this screening) and do a new top coat or two of poly. This will make them as good as new and last you for many years. I did this a few years ago to my kitchen and dining area. On the other hand, if you don't want to do this now, I definitely WOULD NOT apply any type of wax type coating on them. That will just make it harder to do a light screen and poly later. Looking forward to your decision.
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I'm sorry, I didn't see that, yeah polystyrene is the foam i was talking about. It looks like you already have insulation. Capillary action is dragging water right under that whole floor. That looks like a damp corner outside where you have brick. So dumb I missed the water creeping right under your door threshold. Either you have a bad door pan or the door pan has no place to drain to. Either water is coming down the outside wall and going under the door, or water is pooling up in the brick patio and working it's way in. The solution to fix the patio surface is similar to a shower basin. If the flashing is all good around the door, you might need a little catch basin in the patio outside the door to shed water away from the door.
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daisyadair
15 years ago
This shows some pics of how we did repairs on our staircase.
dorrin
15 years ago
I used a small crowbar to remove the strips which held the carpet down and I removed some paint spots with Goo Gone Extreme Remover.
teefting_gmail_com
12 years ago
We have Oeregan Pine flooring and after we lifted the very old carpets, the flooring is still full of black glue. Turpentine nor Acetone is working. Do you have any advise for us.

Thank you for your time.
Have a fabulistic day.

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