Hi all, I’m renovating and old 1920s place and have pulled up the old carpet (layer in the 60s from what I can tell) to find the underlay rubber stuck to the cypress pine boards in places.
Any tips for lifting the rubber? Should I bother? I plan to polish the boards and wondering if it can just be sanded out. It’s pretty thick in places (the hession backing is stick in there as well) so wondering if the floor sander will refuse or I’ll be charged a lot extra.
Many thanks for replies.
Great. Thanks @NZC. Will grab one this weekend.
Some of these old underlays can contain asbestos
Hessian bags were commonly recycled into carpet underlay, the hessian bags were used to transport asbestos from the mines
Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir
Those scrapers weren't around when we did our place (neither were Bunnings), I sharpened the tip of a flat garden spade with a grinder and it made very quick work of it.
Never argue with idiots, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Thanks for the responses everyone. @METRIX - I suppose testing is the only way to know if asbestos issue or not. Any thoughts on the probability the hessian contains asbestos? Are there documented cases and how common?