The Historic District

Hello!! This is my first post here, but i know you all can help!

Background:
My husband and I bought our house in 2014, my uncle owned it before that since 1996, then my great grandparents owned it before that since 1934. It was built in 1920. Before we moved in my uncle laid peel n stick in the kitchen and claimed not to touch it because there was asbestos tile under....but im rather curious and decided to lift the threshold and see what the original flooring was. I found wood floors!!!!
So I removed the 3 layers of peel n stick today and now im left with beautiful wood floors with glue stuck on them!

Does anyone have any great tips for removing it? I do NOT want to sand because i want to try and keep the finish and I dont want to put a new floor down.

Thanks!!!

Someone here took a lot of black goo off their wood floors-it was early on in the site's history as I recall-try this? viewtopic.php?f=5&t=601

Cheers!
Chaz

Be careful floors that old may have shellac on them and many solvents will dissolve shellac. You can try mineral spirits, wd-40, lacquer thinner (carefully).

I second the mineral spirits try. Use plenty of ventilation and switch off any gas supply (assuming you have it) to any appliances etc. and open a window or two. Also be careful to dispose of solvent rags in the right way.

try putting some mineral spirits on and letting it soak for awhile.

Any chance you could post a picture or two?

what i found when i pulled up the thresh hold


floor with glue

cool - looks like the floor is in good shape. Did you try mineral spirits / wd-40? It is likely to take a while for either to really get into that old glue

I'm just remembering I once got brown glue that had been used for an astroturf type covering up from a bathroom floor (I kid you not) with denatured alcohol - worked and worked at it - it got almost all of it off, the remainder was done with very judicious scraping - left the original finish intact enough that I could then give it a light sand and recoat with poly.

I just tried the boiling water trick (after trying an iron last night) and it worked! I only used a small saucepan just in case it ruined anything but not even letting it sit on there made it loosen!

OnionHouse1934 wrote:I just tried the boiling water trick (after trying an iron last night) and it worked! I only used a small saucepan just in case it ruined anything but not even letting it sit on there made it loosen!

Awesome!

I have removed this type of glue in the kitchen floor of my current house and the last one and have had the most success using a wallpaper steamer. After letting it sit on the glue for a few minutes the black stuff will peel right off with a scraper. The glue residue beneath was water soluble and wiped off easily with a rag and a bucket of water (as long as you get it before it cools and hardens). I have the basic Wagner model which runs about $50 on Amazon and was worth every penny.