I just ripped my carpet off my stairs. Their is good wood underneath but unwanted glue from the carpet?

Question

how can i get this glue off the wood? any advice, tips, methods?

Answer 1

if its just the glue alone get a rough sandpaper that will withstand the abuse and sand it off. or i would suggest buying some wood stripper to remove the crud. paint thinner could do the trick, but be careful with it.

Answer 2

Try Goof-Off  or Oops from a paint store

Answer 3

Use a heating gun first to loosen the glue, then scrape off with a spatula. Make sure to get a heating gun with a spatula attachment, you just fit it over the nozzle of the heating gun. Then sand the wood with an orbital sander and by hand with fine sand paper to get into corners and small areas. After that you can stain and varnish the wood.

Answer 4

You can get adhesive removers at your local Home Depot of Menards, but you'll still have to sand down the stairs and refinish.  Use coarse, then medium, then fine, then extra fine sandpaper (in that order) to give it a smooth finish.  Then once sanded, if it's a stained floor, re-stain first.  Either way, then varnish with 3 coats of polyurithane varnish or polyacrylic varnish depending on which type of stain you use.  Seek personnel when purchasing the stain.

Answer 5

We just went through the same situation.  As hard as we tried (Goo-Be-Gone, fine steal wood or sand paper, even liquid fabric softener) nothing worked or gave us a polished finish. Once everything was removed (staples, carpet backing and glue) we found the finish didn’t match in places, wear on the primary traffic areas and if something was spilt on the carpet, it left a watermark. We wasted a lot of time and money , and  in the end we had to sand the stairs down and have them refinished.  It all comes down to are you happy with the look of the stairs once you are finished. No?  You’ll then have to sand down the stairs.  Remember if you sand too much in one spot you are going to have waves in your wood.  Staining stairs will not be that difficult (it‘s not like you have to pour a large amount of stain then quickly spread it like you do when refinishing floor).  You may have to apply several coats of stain to obtain the color you want, then add a coat or two of polyurethane to give your wood protection.  If you go ahead with your project, ask yourself, can I afford to loose the stairs for three to four days?  Don't forget the smell alone will probably be enough to run you out of your home. If you have children in your home they don't need to be breathing in that chemical smell.

Answer 6

Boiling water, sand paper, stay away from chemicals

Want easy points? It's just an opinion:

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Answer 7

http://www.ehow.com/how_2331370_get-glue...

Answer 8

the glue has to be scraped of in big chunks, but also take care not to gouge the wood, try not to make huge scratches on the wood

...then an electric sander will be helpful to sand off the residue, that soaked into the wood and caused the coloration differences.....resist using the sander until you scrape off at least most of the glue cause the glue will gum-up the sanding pads, belts, etc and cost $$ to use more belts, or pads, disks, etc

....and after the wood is sanded, then it needs to be swpet, vaccumed or swept, and then wiped with a 'tack-cloth' to pick up the left-over tiny particles that cause bubbles in the finish coats

...one cleaned, you are free to either re-stain the wood a color, or just apply a durable finish, such as polyurethane....which is also water proof

...applying several coats of the finish will provide a thick protective surface

...using a very very very very fine wet'dry 500+ grit sand paper between coats, sand in straight lines with the grain lines of the wood...the finer the paper the better, really you're only trying to do buffing, and polishing smooth in between each coat (not really sanding)ok? (so donot use rough paper)

.....after each coat is good-n-dry, 24-48hrs in normal room temperatures, will help to smooth out the bubbles that rise up.....the paper will create a white scratchy look at first but wipe it off with the tack cloth and apply the next coat....it will go away and look like new