Old rubber padding stuck to wooden stairs

5 years ago

I pulled off the worn out carpeting from the basement stairs and discovered a layer of very old, hardened and melded to the wood, rubber padding. It is not coming off with scraping. Has anyone encountered this and successfully removed it? I am beginning to think I will have to sand it off, unless someone knows a chemical treatment to loosen it.

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BeverlyFLADeziner

5 years ago

https://betweennapsontheporch.net/how-to-remove-deteriorated-rugs-latex-rubber-backing-stuck-on-hardwood-flooring/

Read the article. Denatured Alcohol Follow instructions.

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Comments (7)

lazy_gardens
5 years ago
In this order of least to most obnoxious

Hot soapy water and a scraper and scrubbing pad

Steam cleaner (shark?)and a scraper

Alcohol (making sure to have ALL possible places that ignite fumes turned off, don't smoke and get good ventilation)
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio thanked lazy_gardens
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raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
Original Author
5 years ago
I tried some acetone -- didn't make a dent. Amazing how brittle the stuff is on the overhanging edge, yet so firmly attached and solid on the flat of the step. I remember seeing this type of padding when I was young -- red rubber with a tire tread -like pattern on it. Now it is compressed down to about 1/4 inch thickness.

It will be 90F today and high humidity, so I will wait a few days to try the alcohol and/or heat gun -- I will have to rely on an open back door and a fan for the ventilation. BeverlyF. and lazy_gardens, thanks for the suggestions!
SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
Some of the old timers will soften up stuff like this using old towels and old fashioned hot water.

Fold the towel until it is a perfect match for the size of the tread (feel free to use more than one towel per tread...you want THICK material sitting on the tread). Now boil a kettle of water. Slowly pour the boiled water OVER the towel/tread until the towels are saturated with water (a drip or two won't hurt anything...just don't allow it to FLOW down the walls!).

Now wait for the towel to cool completely. Lift off a corner to see how soft this has become (use a floor scraper with new blade). If it isn't soft enough, then repeat until you are able to begin removing the rubber.

You are not softening the rubber. You are softening the GLUE that is holding the rubber in place. This technique works well in situations where carpet has been glued to old slabs (think 30+ years) and nothing works to get the glue/pad up.

No need to move to the chemicals just yet. Try this on one tread to find out how much water/time is needed to soften a tread.

And if these are wooden treads, as yourself if it is worth the money to simply replace the tread.
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio thanked SJ McCarthy
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
Original Author
5 years ago
There isn't glue under the rubber -- this was old rubber padding, probably 40 years old. The rubber itself adhered to the wood.

Fortunately the heat gun worked very well -- softened the rubber so that I could scrape it off with a spackling knife. There is still some in the grain of the wood though, and I am debating whether to try to remove any more (with a wire brush maybe?) or just make sure it is all smooth and paint or vinyl over it.
SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
Anything left behind will cause problems with adhesion later. Paint won't adhere to it - even if it is in the grain. That small area will eventually "let go" causing a little adhesion bubble...and then that bubble will grow; and grow; and grow until it peels.

The same with vinyl. Each little bit of rubber will prevent the adhesive from sticking. That's not bad if it is ONE spot. But imagine 100 spots per tread. Now we have problems. Again, the adhesive over the rubber will fail...causing the same type of failure as paint. The adhesion bubbles will grow and then connect to one another. Eventually you will get full failure.

You might be able to sand down past the rubber in the grain so that you can start with fresh wood. Even though you have removed 99%, you will have to work even harder to get that last 1% off.
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio thanked SJ McCarthy
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for the tips, SJ McCarthy. I'll work on it some more and see just how hard (hopefully not impossible) it will be to get the step totally clean. If I can't, I suppose I will have to resort to some of that tack-down stair tread. I've not seen any that cover the entire step though, they seem to be only 24" wide.