We recently bought a new house and found hardwood floors in the upstairs bedrooms under the carpet. We plan on using one of the rooms as a playroom and would like to keep the wood floor. The house is 50 years old and the floor is oak. It seems to be in pretty good condition, however some of the carpet padding is stuck to the floor. Do you have some advice on how to remove it? Secondly, because we are using the room as a playroom and will not be showing it off to company, is there any reason why we can't leave the floor as is without refinishing it? Will the floor get ruined if it is not properly refinished? Finally, how do we clean the floor. It seems as if there is no finish on it. I don't want to damage the wood. Thank you for your help

if the floor has no finish on it it has no protection so if you want to use it you need to have it refinished. the stuck carpet pad can be sanded off in the refinsihing process.

The carpet padding is probably adhered to the floor with some sort of glue or contact cement. Short of sanding it, there is no other universal way to remove it other than gently scraping it off.

You ABSOLUTELY NEED to have a finish on the floor to protect it from dirt, moisture, and general wear, especially in a play room for the kids. Otherwise, it will very quickly look like crap and possibly even splinter, which would not be good with kids around. So, unless you are going for the white-trash-country-shack lifestyle and do not care if your kids get splinters in their feet almost every day in their play room after a month or so, make sure there is some sort of finish on the floor. You can cut corners on the refinishing process if you really do not care at all what it looks like, and just slop a finish down over what you have now without sanding or stripping, but make sure you put some sort of finish down, especially because the finish on your floor is probably 50 years old.

I seriously doubt there is no finish on it now. Especially given that it is probably 50 years old, it might just have an oil finish that was absorbed by the wood or a thin veneer finish that wore down over the years. Contrary to possible impressions, good floor finishes do NOT all just look like an obvious, thick, glossy piece of transparent plastic was laminated onto the floor. A well-done finish should protect the floor invisibly so as to not interfere with (and even enhance) the natural look of the wood. It is also unlikely that an unfinished piece of wood would be anything but rough and splintery after 50 years as a subfloor. So there probably is a residual finish on the floor, even if you do not obviously feel or see it.

As for cleaning it, the type of cleaning product depends almost entirely on the finish that is on the floor. If it is an oil finish, then you need special oil-based cleaners. If it is a polyurethane, then you can use almost any common cleaner, including even Windex. Murphy's oil soap is a safe bet for almost any finish.

[This message has been edited by Lawrence (edited December 26, 2000).]

Wood floor for a playroom? Eeeek. Think about the echoing noises of toys dropping and kids screaming, and what will happen when the kids fall - more bruises. I'd find a new carpet, even just a throw rug. good luck!

I will just give you a simple way of removing the carpet adhesive which is usually an ugly job to do. Use The PEEL AWAY 5 product and in two hours it will easily and safely be removed. After that you see the other options that have already been offered to you

I would absolutely use the wood floor in a playroom. Easy to clean up spills, etc and no carpet to trap dust & dirt. I had pine floors installed in our playroom a few years back and they take lots of abuse but are so easy to maintain. In the winter when I want to cosy it up a bit I put an inexpensive throw rug down. As for finishing it - you could probably get away with giving it a light sanding (screening) and put down several coats of finish for protection. I would not use Murphy's oil soap on newly finished floors - ask for advice from a reputable flooring store on proper products to use. Vinegar and water (sparingly) may be all you need.