The most effective techniques to remove double-sided tape from the floor
How can you remove double-sided tape from the floor? You may find yourself struggling with double-sided tape or glue residue on ceramic floors, stoneware tiles, concrete floors, and even parquet floors.
This can happen for several reasons. In most cases, the question arises after removing fitted carpet or rugs, assuming that special double-sided adhesive tapes for carpeting are used to firmly position these coverings.
But it can also happen in other situations, when the double-sided adhesive tape is used for momentary installations, events, or parties.
Removing double-sided adhesive tape from the floor can be difficult in two separate cases, that is, if you are dealing with a permanent double-sided fitted carpeting tape, and therefore a very powerful one; and, in case you are faced with old double-sided adhesive tape, which has become one with the floor.
How can you solve this problem? Let’s have a look at the most effective techniques for removing adhesive tape from the floor!
How to remove double-sided tape from the floor
Let’s start with the most effective techniques to remove the adhesive tape from ceramic, stoneware, or concrete flooring. These are very resistant and non-porous materials, on which a carpet may have been installed for months or years, and attached with professional double-sided adhesive tape, maybe even with glue.
Once the carpet has been removed, you may have to deal with pieces of double-sided adhesive tape which have remained attached to the floor rather than the carpet, or with glue residues detached from the tape itself and stuck on the tiles.
How to intervene in this case? A team of professionals who is in the process of changing the carpeting on a concrete floor could use a special decal, designed precisely to remove sticky substances from flooring.
However, industrial double-sided tape can also be removed from the floor through other methods. It is possible to start by using heat, more specifically a hair dryer: set the maximum temperature and place it at about 10 cm from the residual double-sided adhesive tape.
This will heat the glue underneath, which will lose some of the grip it has on the floor. At this point, it will be easier to take hold of a corner of the double-sided tape, using a scraper.
To be able to get under the double-sided tape heated this way, you can use a plastic scraper, such as one of those used in the winter months to deice car windshields.
Undoubtedly this is the most effective and safest “homemade” solution, which can also be replaced with old plastic cards or, for precision work, with a razor blade to be used with great caution, at an angle. On concrete floors, it will also be possible to use real steel spatulas, such as those used for grouting.
Through the heat, you should be able to detach strong double-sided tape. After removing the tape, however, you could still have to deal with glue residue left on the floor: where the heat can’t get, however, other remedies can help.
It would be possible to use a solvent – being very careful not to use those substances on materials which may deteriorate – to soften the glue, or it is possible to replace solvents with DIY household liquids, a little less effective but also less risky.
Mixtures of hot water, vinegar, and lemon juice work rather well in these cases: just wet the affected section, leave for about ten minutes, and then remove the glue residues with a scraper or spatula.
Oils and lubricants can also be used to make the glue softer; vegetable oils, such as olive oil and seed oil, and lubricant-releaser sprays can be used. In any case, after removing the last residues of double-sided adhesive tape from the floor, it is good to clean the surface well.
How to remove double-sided adhesive tape from parquet
To remove industrial double-sided adhesive from parquet it is best to take some extra care: it is a more delicate material, basically porous, and it is best to avoid using solvents on it.
Also, in this case it is possible to use heat to detach double-sided adhesive tape, using only plastic scrapers with blunted corners to remove any glue residue.
In the most difficult cases it will be possible to use an alcohol-soaked cloth – without spraying alcohol directly on the wood – to slightly soften the glue; however, it is possible to also use cleanser for the same purpose, useful in case the residue is just a few isolated patched of double-sided adhesive tape glue on the wooden flooring.
