Please help me with my front porch

16 years ago

Hi everyone. I have a 1923 foursquare and we've done lots of work, inside and out, over the past 6 years. Now I'm starting to focus on the front porch. It's huge. When we bought the house, it was covered with green indoor/outdoor carpet. I removed it and painted the porch floor and front steps black.

So the problem is this: The glue that was used to attach the carpet to the porch floor is still there. I just painted over it as a quick fix. The swirl marks are very clearly seen, and it makes cleaning the porch floor nearly impossible. The swirl marks go every which way, and even scrubbing it on my hands and knees with a scrub brush doesn't remove all the dirt. (Doesn't help that I used black porch paint, either. Black shows everything, but it is my main accent color on the house).

Is there some way to remove this glue? I will say that I'm extremely busy with a 2 1/2 daughter and 3-month-old son. I don't want to have to paint over it one more time without figuring out if there's a way to remove the old glue. And by "old," I'm guessing the previous owner installed the carpet in the 70's, if not earlier. We bought this house is 2001, and the carpet on the porch was threadbare.

Here is a sort of outdated picture of the porch. I plan to take new pictures today of the swirl marks.

Thank you so much!

Beth

Here is a link that might be useful: porch

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Comments (7)

kframe19
16 years ago
I hate to tell you this, but there's probably no easy way to remove the glue.

Sanding it will be a mess as the glue will likely clog the belts or pads.

Removing with with chemicals will create a nasty, nasty mess, potentially flammable, and depending on the kind of glue and solvent, potentially carcinogenic.

Probably the BEST way to try to remove the glue is with a very very sharp floor scraper. Extremely hard work.
ericwi
16 years ago
-you could paint the porch floor grey, scatter some sand in the wet paint, and label the finished floor an "anti-skid" surface.
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beths96
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, both of you, for being honest. I know there's no easy solution. Lots of people who visit actually think we did the swirls on purpose for an anti-skid surface. Everyone suggests we put down gray indoor/outdoor carpet, but I just can't stand it, personally. So I feel stuck! Most of my trim color on the house is black, so I feel like painting the porch floor and steps anything else but black would not look right. Do you agree?

Ugh! It's just very hard to keep my front porch clean, and I hate to have the first thing people see when they visit is a dirty porch.

Beth
kec01
16 years ago
Was the floor painted before the carpet and glue was put down? If yes, I'd recommend getting a heat gun and scraping all of it off. You should be able to get one at HD or Lowe's. Or you could go with chemicals and if that's the route you'd take, I'd recommend the PeelAway products - #7 should work. I'd use the heat gun as my first choice as the surface is horizontal, though.

Either way, it will take time and effort as you'll be on your knees during the process.

Don't listen to the visitors who suggest more carpet. You can get this stuff off.
Kimberlyinva
16 years ago
Beth, I tackled a similar project when I had an infant. What I did was starting at the far corner I broke the porch up into 2 foot blocks. I also used Peel Away since it's covered & makes less of a mess ( errr kinda...). Each day I would strip one section (as time permitted) then paint on the product & cover the next section for the following day (I've left it on up to 4 days & it was okay). It took a long while to get 18 x 6 footer done but hey, I did it and it look great!! Peel Away 1 should also work on your steps (look like concrete to me for some reason). I just did my foundation with it.
Good luck to you!
KAT
powermuffin
16 years ago
I would take the time to remove it too. I can't imagine having a black porch floor though. It will never look clean. I would choose an accent color for added interent or use the gray of your house when repainting. You have flowers and pots and other items on the porch; perhaps you can pick a color from there. Paint of "rug" on the floor. Lots of opportunities for something welcoming.
ellenj
16 years ago
I used a product called SoyGel to remove carpet glue from my bathroom tiles. I am going to remove some nasty outdoor carpet from my front porch this summer. There is carpet glue all over the concrete under it. I'm going to order some soygel (no smell, you don't even have to use gloves) and give it a try before I paint it. Its the consistency of a hair gel. You pour some out, and paint it out with a brush. I did about a one foot square at a time. Leave on at least a 1/2 hour, the longer the better. Scrape up the goop. I used a brillo to clean the tile inside but I'll power wash the porch. I'll you know how it turns out!

Here is a link that might be useful: SoyGel

Please help me with my front porch

Comments (7)

kframe19

ericwi

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Please help me with my front porch

Comments (7)

kframe19

ericwi

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beths96Original Author

kec01

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powermuffin

ellenj

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beths96
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