We bought a house with hardwood that obviously had a rug on in the FR and I'm guessing with some sort of protector. I say obviously because you could see a large sticky herringbone patterned rectangle where the carpet used to be.

I had cleaners come in and they attempted to clean it with no success. I read some online advice and tried a few things, also without success (I won't say I tried everything, because I still had a few ideas left.)

In one of those articles I read about shaving cream. It said to put the shaving cream on just long enough to get the floor wet, then wipe it off. I tried that but it didn't do anything. Then I tried it for a little bit longer which seemed to have some success. With much trial and error, I now have a 'recipe'. I don't know what varnish was used on these floors, but the shaving cream did not take that off as well. Maybe I was lucky. It might not work for you, so please use caution.

Without further ado, here is my process: Squirt shaving cream (I used Gillette Regular) down the length of a plank and then smear it around over three planks. Set a timer for 4 mins (loved my Echo for this), and then use a damp scotchguard yellow and green scrubby thingie - you know the ones - and start scrubbing the glue off. I didn't press too hard since I didn't want to scratch the floors. Sometimes all of it would come off, sometimes you have to tackle a stubborn spot again. If you get interrupted and the shaving cream gets a little dry, just dip the scrubbie in a little water and that will 'revive' it. I never left it on for too long though. While I was at it I also cleaned the grooves between the planks with the end of a paperclip. A lot of gunk came out of those, ick.

You will see the results in the photos. In the first photo I'm about halfway across the rectangle (going right to left), which starts at the bottle cap in the distance and to the right (off picture). Please note that these floors were cleaned by my house cleaners just before I started. That is how much residue there was. I've also realized that I will have to do the entire floor since it cleaned it so nicely that the areas outside the rectangle looks terrible in comparison!

The bottle cap marks my current three planks, although I didn't really need a visual clue..

The last photo shows the cleaned rectangle in comparison to the rest of the floor, which I will now have to clean as well. This is right after "the process", followed by a wipe with a damp cloth. Afterwards I will give it a proper cleaning with Bona. As you can see it looks nice and shiny :)

This is a lot of work and I'm still not done, but as least I have something that works and is saving my hardwood floors.

PS: Wear gloves and scoot around on your butt - it will save your knees and back. I'm SORE! :)