TopFeatured.com

Hi all,

Was hoping to hivemind this after a little research. I recently took up carpet in a back utility room that I’m hoping to improve. There’s a pretty thick layer of nasty old glue in several spots, especially stairs. The end goal is getting it to a surface that is paintable or finished (doesn’t have to be perfect). Seems there are a couple routes:

– Grinding, either with a rented grinder or something like a Dremel Multi or hand grinder.

– Putting down more glue and doing some sort of sub-floor of thin plywood or similar to level, and applying something like marmoleum on top (seems slightly more half-assed)

– Solvents

I’ve heard very mixed things about solvents. I like the grinding idea most with painted concrete floor as finish but I’m roughly dating this glue (based on other details of the area room its in) to probably the mid-60s or so, which to me means there is a huge risk of asbestos and silicates and things. Churning up all that into the air seems very dicey, possibly a dealbreaker.

I’m not super opposed to putting down some sort of vinyl flooring but that seems weird to do on stairs. I guess it would be the top surface of each stair would get flooring but this seems like a headache.

Anyway, I feel like this type of job is pretty common so I was curious if anyone had any tips. Thank you!