6 Steps to Prevent Carpet Mold After Water Damage Take Steps to Ensure Best Carpet Installation 4 Types of Flooring Perfect for Basements and Bathrooms How to Choose Carpet for High-Traffic Areas Angie's List Member Wins New Flooring in Shaw Floors SweepstakesI agree with Ben, as usual. First, test your slab - put a sheet of plastic over it, at least 3 feet square, taped down to the slab all around - leave for 3 days. If the slab darkens with moisture, or there is any condensation drops on the underside of the plastic, you have a damp slab. If you have visible moisture or moisture discoloration at any time during the course of the seasons with exposed concrete slab, then you have a wet slab. Even just a damp slab can put several quarts of moisture passingfrom the ground through the concrete into the air per day, and a wet basement slab in contact with wster at its base can generate as much as 10 gallons a day of air moisture - which means that pretty much anything placed on it WILL get damp enough to mildew or mold.
For a wet slab, a polished concrete or epoxy/polyurea surface is your best bet. Any other surfacing you put over it is likely to mold. Ceramic tile with waterproofing additives in the mortar mix can work if the surface is properly prepared for good bonding, and you use "plastic" thinset and grout rather than cement based grout. Basically has to be done the same way as for a gymnasium shower floor or pool deck to work right. For a damp slab, assuming it NEVER actually gets wet either from high water table under it in wet season, or from surface flooding from foundation leakage, then you have several options: 1) As Ben says, Pergo and others make totally plastic flooring material in a variety of surfaces that can be put down on a smooth slab over a vapor barrier and totally inorganic plastic padding - looks like bubble wrap commonly. Does not guarantee mold will not form between the vapor barrier and the concrete. IF you use a snap flooring version, can be taken up if it gets saturated and dried, then put back in.
Not so with glued or nailed versions. Some people also use snap or interlock together rubber or foam flooring over a vapor barrier, particularly in rec rooms, which can be taken up easily in event of flood. 2) A vapor barrier under an inorganic pad as above, overlain with an open-weave backing synthetic fiber (nylon, rayon) carpet with NO natural materials in it, which has lots of breathing space in the weave can work. I have used open-weave backing short-pile 100% nylon carpet from Armstrong in my basement for about 30 years, with vapor-barrier floor paint but no plastic sheet vapor barrier or padding and never a mildew problem, even though the plastic sheet test did show a minor amount of condensation. The key is a breathable carpet and decent airflow in the basement. 3) Any other type of flooring - laminate, vinyl, hardwood, etc will act to xxxx vapor evaporation, so risk mildew/mold under them. You can put down a sealer on the concrete and a vapor barrier and frequently get satisfactory service in a low moisture slab - generally only ones that are at or above surrounding ground level, but you always have the risk of mildew, and if ever flooded are pretty much trash.
If you use a sheet product, use plastic, not organic - so vinyl, not linoleum, for instance. I have successfully done asphaltic based vinyl tiles and vinyl sheet using asphalt adhesive - the 1970's method - on damp flooring without trouble, but you have to make sure the concrete is VERY well sealed first with multiple penetrating coats of sealant placed on ground concrete surface so there is open voids for the sealant to penetrate, then let sit a week or more untouched and unwalked on before putting down the asphaltic-bonded tiles or sheet. The key is to make sure the concrete is less permeable to moisture than the overlying material. If you use a non-asphaltic adhesive (because of smell issues or allergies), then I would recommend full-adhesion waterproof mastic, not spot-adhered or glueless, so there are no air gaps under the sheet to accumualte moisture and mildew. 4) Of course, in new construction, if a full edge-bonded heavy duty plastic liner is put in the bedding sand layer UNDER the slab, that can turn a potentially wet or damp situation into a basically dry one, allowing almost any type of flooring to be used, though I NEVER recommend hardwood over below- or on-grade slabs.
Of course, in a basement, one should probably assume that at some point it will get at least partially flooded from foundstion leak or pipe failure, so polished or stained or coated concrete, tile, or removeable flooring is the most likely to survive that. 5) Another option, in pretty much either case if your ventilation system removes the vapor as fast as the concrete can supply it, is padless thick open-weave area rug with a "Miller Weave", "Open Back", "Berber" or "Rag Rug" construction - which have lots of air holes in the rug and backing to let the moisture through. Then if getting damp or floods, just roll up and take out to garage and drape over some elevated 2x4's across sawhorses to dry out. Again, start with good concrete sealing first - preferably deep sealant with compatible epoxy surface coat to minimize water transmission. remove sticky residue from hardwood floor I took a large area rug off my hardwood floor. The backing left a sticky waffle weave residue all over my floor.
Diluted vinegar has not helped. I cleaned a test spot with straight vinegar on a rag. After scrubbing with soft rag, it took some of the sticky away, but not all. What do I do? Who can I trust to help? So many conflicting opinions on different websites. Terrified to try anything else. I really don't want to have the floor refinished. Do you have the same question? Don't know if you have any WD40 around the house but it works well for this sort of problems. Spray it on and wipe off with a paper towell. I even spray it on work clothes that have grease on them. You can then just wash of any rsidue with what ever floor cleaner you have for the wood floors. Answered 3 years ago I would suggest first Amstrong Hardwood and Laminate Floor Cleaner - available at some flooring stores, Walmart, Amazon among many others.If that does not work, WD40 will quite likely work (as it does on many household goop and stains) but is likely to soften or pull your finish too. Also, since it is an oil, it will prevent any future refinishing from sticking, and can cause haloing and mooning (discolored rings and whitish spotting of the finish) so that is a bad thing, though a lot pof people use it successfully if done VERY quickly and soaped off immediately after.
Will definitely strip your wax, if any.Since vinegar took some off, unless all it got was the foam, I would stay with that and a lot of elbow grease.If that does not work, try shaving creme - do not let it sit longer than to just dampen the mark, then rub off and follow with detergent wipe.Paint thinner (mineral spirits) would almost certainly take it off, but you would have to be very quick about it because that is probably the solvent that was used in the finish when first applied - apply with slightly dampened rag or better yet one of those non-abrasive nylon cleaning pads with fine (not coarse, scratchy) surface, rub off, then wipe clean with detergent like Armstong's Floor Cleaner or Dawn and water wetted rag several passes, because if it sits for any time it is likely to lift the finish if it is oil rather than lacquer based. Will absolutely strip any wax on it.Things NOT to use - Goo gone (xylene, which will strip any finish pronto), Murphy's Oil Soap, vegetable oil, any cleaner with powder like laundry detergent or powdered cleansers, tube and tile cleaner, laquer thinner (fingernail polish remover), chlorine bleach, alcohol, anything oil based, and many others - most of these will remove the residue, but also your varnish or polyurethane.
For lots more ideas and comments, google this search phrase - removing rug backing residue from hardwood floorsUnfortunately, even if you get the stickiness off, you are likely to find that it has chemically changed the surface finish and will still have a waffle pattern, so a local refinishing is likely to be needed - this calls for a professional floor refinisher. Hopefully it can just be stripped, recoated, and buffed, without stripping to bare wood and resanding the floor. Likely repair cost - about $5/SF with minimum of maybe $100 or so. If I were you and these floors are otherwise in good condition, I would go only as far as the sahving creme, and if you don't have it off by then, call a professional.Unfortunately, this happens a lot - you should never use a carpet or furniture pads with latex or vinyl, any type of glued or foam, etc - in fact, no type of backing at all other than straight unglued fabric - use rugs only with bare fabric on the back, like berber throw rugs and such, or ones specifically backed with muslin or such for use on hardwood and laminate floors.
The WORST thing is the non-slip latex backing pads sold in box stores to prevent area and throw rugs from slipping around - they certainly do that, but ruin what is underneath also, up to and including stone and tile flooring. If you have to put regular carpet down as an area rug, it is best to underlie it with a plain white muslin sheet, but that does make it liable to slip around easily. I just tried the small steam nozzle on my steam cleaner and it loosened up the latex, just wipe it right off with a rag! Answered 1 year ago I just finished getting a 3x5 rug backing that was as hard as cement from my dark wood floors. Thanks to Mandy from the floor store in Encinitas ca. I ordered Bostic ultimate adhesive remover on amazon. I used a paint scraper and was very careful. I had to let it soak on floor over night but it softened the glue and with the scraper and a scour sponge it ALL came off. This stuff is wonderful. patch holes under roof eave Orkin charges 425.00 dollars for first visiti is that about average.