Go you! Don't give up now! :)

That looks like a beautiful hardwood floor under there, and some day you will be glad you took the time for this every time you look at it.

This might be a very naive suggestion, but would a regular power floor sander not get that up with less trauma to you?

Good luck!!!

Jane

Thanks! And no, that's not a naive suggestion at all and I considered it for a minute but the finish on the floor--once I get the goop off of it--is actually in really good shape and I don't want to mar it. It's really tough and takes a lot of hard scraping with the putty knife with no scratches or gouges whatsoever, but I'm concerned that a sander might break through that. I'm going through a lot of paint thinner and steel wool right now. I've considered using a razor scraper on the toughest spots but I'm also afraid that would gouge through the surface finish.

Wow....what a big job. But it's looking good! I saw some Adhesive Remover at Home Depot in the flooring section. Not the little bottles of "goo gone" but a large pail of stuff meant for flooring adhesive. I haven't used it but maybe a small amount of it would soften the glue without harming the finish? Worth a look. My carpel tunnel wrist hurts just thinking about how much work you've put in.

I wonder if a heat gun would help loosen the adhesive?
I do know what you are going thru. Some idjut glued down a area rug in our house. Whatever they used was immuned to chemical removers.

My dad would tell you to try some rags and his favorite clean all, mineral spirits, on a spot that will be covered with furniture in the future. Smelly stuff indoors though.

There's a scraper on a long handle that will do wonders for both the floor and your back. Home Depot has them. You're really making progress though, it's a beautiful floor and I'm really envious of that fireplace (pink paint and all) and the windows on each side - are there any ghosts of cabinetry flanking the fireplace on the floor?

Thanks, all! I've been using 'paint thinner' (with mineral spirits) and steel wool after dry scraping as much as I can with a putty knife. My husband ran out and got some actual 'mineral spirits' today and it cuts the cloudiness best after scrubbing with the paint thinner and steel wool. I'll check the hardware stores in town for the carpet adhesive solvent, and I know we bought a floor scraper when we first got the house so it's around here somewhere...
Johnnari, good idea about checking the floor for ghosts! I haven't got to the part by the sides of the fireplace yet, but I did find a patched area at the right side of the archway (in the second photo above) that indicated the wide arch seen now was originally a standard-sized doorway at some point. The room was constructed in two separate remodels starting in 1926, and it has one exterior door to the alley. One of the previous owners rented out rooms and this was likely one of them. There was another entry from the adjacent hallway to the small closet in the room. That entry is now a wall in the hall linen closet. The only way we knew about it was that the room's small closet had two ceiling light fixtures! The room has undergone some hard to interpret changes, but I'm definitely curious now to see if there is a footprint from cabinets flanking the fireplace.
The pink on the fireplace is a *smidge* more tolerable now that the green carpeting is going!

Wow!

After all your work getting that gunk off, be sure to hire a proven professional to refinish the floor.

worthy--I know it's hard to believe from the above photos, but in several smaller areas where I have actually succeeded now in getting all the foam and adhesive off, the floor looks almost like it was finished yesterday--really very well preserved. I'll have to post a couple good follow-up photos when I'm completely done. At the edges of the floor I can see that it has been refinished probably once in its lifetime. I'm pretty certain we won't have to do, at least not for some time!

Wow. You go girl! It going to look so fabulous.

A heat gun is your best friend! I am doing our dining room right now and could not do it without one.
Our carpet was this deep pile brown and the red rubber backing is now one with the wood floors. A paint scraper and a heat gun and it slides right up. If it hadn't started raining the past several days I would be finished. It requires a fan and an open door ad I don't want to suck all that moisture into the house. Please go get one.. no more bad nights or sore hands.

That looks amazing!!! Very similar to our floor (also under green carpet but we had to refinish it) but I am so thankful it wasn't glued down!

Can't wait to see finished pics!

Wow, good job!
I've never seen so much adhesive used for carpet. It is wonderful that the floor is well preserved underneath.
You are going to have a great study, and you will enjoy it all the more, knowing what it took to get there.

Thank you! I looked at HD for the carpet adhesive remover and picked up a couple cans of it. But guess what...I went to start prepping the big stuccoed chimney outside for painting Tuesday morning and ended up starting to remove the stucco entirely because it was coming loose. Now we're removing all of it on the chimney instead of painting it. The brick underneath looks to be in pretty good shape so we'll clean it up and won't restucco, but it's a big chimney! I'll be switching back and forth between the floor and the chimney now. Do the floor when the weather won't let us work on the chimney. Such is life with an old house, right? But I have made great progress with the floor, and much of what you see above is now relatively clean! I will post with pictures again when I'm really done with it...