Can hardwood floors be saved in old home where padding has been heavily glued to hardwood?

Question

My husband & I are remodeling an old house that had carpet over hardwood floors. One of the bedrooms never had carpet & has nice hardwood floors. The other rooms ,however, had carpet & the padding was glued down very good! We have scraped the padding from the floors as much as we could, with the thought that we would just put down new carpet over it. But now we are wondering if the hardwood can be saved. The glue is still on the floor & the padding has left a blackish tint on the hardwood. My question is can all that be sanded down & with a nice finished product?? Also will it save us money if refinishing the floors instead of doing carpet (if we got carpet, it would be cheaper berber- 99. per sqft) or will it end up being more expensive?? Thanks for reading! =)

Answer 1

I would definately sand the floors down & try refinishing.  Don't know about actual costs, but hardwood looks better and will increase the value of the house.

Answer 2

The hardwood floors can definitely be saved. The glue and the discoloration from the padding will not present a problem for a competent wood floor refinishing company. I would not recommend attempting to sand the floor yourself, if for no other reason than the sheer cost of the consumer available sandpaper you will go through attempting to sand the remaining glue/pad off.

Refinishing the hardwood floors will be more expensive than the .99 carpet you are considering. It will also last a lot longer (look at the room with exposed hardwood you already have) and will definitely be an asset and contribute to a higher resale value when/if you sell (as pointed out by another poster).^

Answer 3

Rent a floor sander and try it.  I'd probably just start with a small area, sand it down and then stain it to make sure its going to look the way you want it to...that way you don't waste time doing the whole floor if it doesn't turn out right.  Good luck!