How to Restore Wood Floors Under Carpet

It's every homeowner's dream to remove carpet and find wood floors beneath the carpet pad. While many old homes have quality wood floors that are worth restoring, most floors will need some work before they can be used as the primary flooring surface in the home.

The difficulty of restoring your wood floors after the carpet has been removed will depend on the method used to lay the carpet. If you are very lucky, the carpet and pad could be laid over the hardwood floors and only secured at the edges. However, numerous nails or glue is more common. Glue in particular can make wood floor restoration difficult.

To begin, the carpet and any nails should be complete removed. If there was some type of adhesive used to secure the carpet pad to the wood floor, it must be removed as well.

In most cases, if glue is present, you must remove the finish of the floor completely. This can be achieved by sanding away the glue residue until bare wood is reached. You can also use an adhesive remover to remove the glue, later finishing with a light sanding. Once the glue and finish has been removed the floor can carefully be stained. In some cases, the glue residue will make some areas of the floor receive wood stain unevenly. If this is the case, you must decide if you can embrace the variations or replace the areas of the wood floor that are affected.

If there are nail holes in the wood, try filling the holes with a putty that matches the wood. If the wood is stained and in otherwise good condition, you may elect to apply an all-over sealant that will protect the finish. While this will also preserve imperfections, it may be appropriate depending on the style of your house and your own personal taste.

However, if you decide that you would like to refinish the floors, be sure that the flooring will withstand the sanding required. Some floors may be too thin from previous refinishing to accommodate more work. Homeowners should also keep in mind that even with diligent refinishing the wood floors will often still retain some imperfections.