Adhesive removal on Bamboo Floors

The installer I used got urethane adhesive on his shoes during install, walked all over the new floor, and didn't start to clean it up until several days after installation. NOTHING IS WORKING... so far. We've tried mineral spirits (bad for bamboo), goof off, Orange Tough. The adhesive we used was Roberts 1408 and the recommended remover is 1912 Adhesive solvent. Anyone have any ideas that won't ruin the bamboo?

Thanks.

 

Nothing will work!!!

He waited too long and it etched the finish. Sloppy HACK!

 

We're having the floor screened and recoated. Will that work???

 

What is the finish warranty on the prefinished flooring you purchased???
What is the warranty on the finish they are going to use to fix this fiasco, out of their pocket, on the cheap???

Your going to lose any finish warranty associated with your original purchase.

If They don't please you, you can always sue them to replace it.

 

I have the same issue. I installed about 1/2 of a small room myself. I thought I did a good job of removing the glue. The next day while removing the tape I used to keep the boards tight, I found glue and glue smudge marks all over. I've tried Goof Off, Goo Gone, mineral spirits and a product called Film Free made by Cal Flor. I could remove most of the glue but the smudge marks, none of the products completely work. I thought the glue etched into the finish. I've been in contact with the Roberts, they recommended using a Magic Eraser by Mr. Clean. Much to my surprise, the Magic Eraser works. I did a small area and no more smudges. For some of the thicker glue areas, I put some Goo Gone on the Magic Eraser. A dry Magic Eraser works good after the glue is gone to buff the floor. I have a lot more floor to clean, but so far it looks like I won't have to sand and refinish the floor.

 

I am also in the middle of a floor install. I am installing 3/14" engineered wood with roberts 1408. I have a friend who installed the same wood in his home and waited until the end of the project to clean all the glue off. He said it all came off ok so I decided to do the same thing. I just read this post and got really scared so I just tried mineral spirits to get off 1 week old glue spots and it seems to be coming off just fine. perhaps bamboo is different. I do have a few smudges that the previous poster mentioned. I will try that magic eraser to see how that works. anyway thanks all the great information.,

 

i have the same problem, me and my dad are putting bamboo flooring in my home and got some glue on the floor (roberts 1408). some spots it is thick, mineral spirits and a magic eraser work? is there anything else? thanks.

 

We tried the suggestion for using a non-abrasive scotch scrub pad with Bon Ami. The glue did come up (scrub with the grain) but we got a gritty residue from the Bon Ami. To clean the area, we tried ZEP Hardwood floor cleaner product (Home Depot) and the green non-abrasive scrub pad. It worked really well - better than the Bon Ami, in fact. While it took some scrubbing by hand, the adhesive easily came up and our floor was in great shape. We then sprayed it with Liquid Gold and used a buffer to polish the wood back up to a high shine that looked just like it did when we took it out of the box. The oil in the Liquid Gold further loosened any bits of adhesive we missed. After the buffing, there were a few fingerprints remaining that were easily visible so we simply reapplied the ZEP cleaner to the spots, removed them and then buffed up the whole floor again with a wood floor wax. The floor looks great!

 

You are an angel. You saved our project. We installed stranded bamboo and got residue PL cement and duct tape glue on the floor from holding the metal moulding in place at the ceramic tile border. I tried every sort of thinner and solvent imaginable to try to remove the glue on some sample pieces before I ruined the floor totally. Everything left a dull spot and some solvents marred the finish. In desperation I sought help from the net. Your MAGIC ERASER trick did the job. The floor is saved and my husband wants to kiss you. I am passing this information along to the flooring store. THIS IS HUGE. IT WORKS AND WILL SAVE REFINISHINGS. A bit of elbow grease and even a dry eraser and PRESTO!!! A POLISHED SHINE. THANKS A MILLION.

 

Definetly a two to three person job. I tried spreading the glue myself and then put the floor down. Major mess. I visited the roberts website, they suggested wd-40 and the Mr. clean magic erasers. Seems to be working. Have to run and get more erasers. I was having success believe it or not with paint thinner and the blue shop rags, but the wd 40 seems to work better. Use a plastic scraper to remove the heavier globs gently. The mineral spirits and rags are effective if the glue is still wet.

 

It is just perfect!We installed hardwood floor in our house with Roberts 1408, it dried and our floor wasn't what we were looking for, but since I read this post everything changed thank you guys!

 

Optimally, you did not pay for the entire job until you were satisfied. We paid 50% up front and are still holding the rest until I see CLEAN SHINY floors! Extremely happy I saw this posting before the job was finished.

 

Since my original post, back when Magic Erasers were fairly new to the market, they have become the rage to remove days old dried glue.

After a day, Mineral Spirits, becomes less likely to remove the etching outline.

The Magic Erasers act as rubbing compound. That is how it works. Just like rubbing compound on a automotive finish does.
Be very careful not to get real aggressive, or you can create dull spots, where you micro scratched the top coat to get the contaminated finish from the surface.

WD-40 will work, but the side effect is it is a contaminate, that can effect a refinish in the future. Same for buffing a prefinish floor with wax.

 

I am a finish carpenter with 20 years experience
just used the Roberts urethane on Home Depot bamboo flooring for a 900 sf job
I thought we had done a good job cleaning as we went
but the next day there were spots
I bought the horrendously overpriced Roberts wipes @ $20 a can of 60 wipes
they worked somewhat, but a lot of scraping with a glass scraper was necessary
at the end, I tried 0000 steel wool, which worked after much rubbing
why didn't I think of the Magic Eraser and WD 40 earlier?
I AM SAAAVED!
ps-NEVER AGAIN! The next client that wants glued flooring will be talked into snap-and-click laminate. Life is too short for this crap.

 

So glad I found this information. I have tried the adhesive remover, mineral spirits, scrubbers with not much luck. Plan on getting magic eraser tomorrow to try. I will never glue down another floor, from now on it is nailing only, if it can't be nailed, it won't go down.

 

I had been cleaning my new bamboo floors on hands & knees for two very long days before coming across this great forum. I was using a mixture of approx 3/4 mineral spirits, 1/4 very hot water and good ol' fashion elbow grease. Only for the residual glue spots to reappear shortly after. You would think I would have learned my lesson on day one... Desperate for a solution, I turned to the trusty internet. Luckily, I had a new pack of magic erasers on hand. I was amazed! I will definitely be needing extra hands. It will be a tedious task. I have only done four planks so far. Hundreds more to go . I just wanted to confirm the magic erasers are indeed effective!!! BTW they will also leave your floors very nice & shiny.

 

I hope this doesn't sound dumb, but are you using a dry magic eraser, OR a wet (water) magic eraser, OR are you pouring wd-40 on your magic eraser and then rubbing off the glue marks?

Also, would it be a good idea to run the magic eraser over the whole floor so it's had the same "treatment"?

Thank you so much for giving us hope! I really don't want to screw things up more, that's why I'm getting to the nitty-gritty of how this is done.

 

I only had PL glue in a few places. I just used the magic eraser dry. It still required some elbow grease, but it worked a treat and didn't cause any noticeable change to the finish.

 

The only thing that has worked is the magic eraser and wd40. Ive tried everything else and it still left smudges everywhere. The WD40 and magic eraser works great and didnt ruin my floors.

 

This advice is an illustration of the best of the internet. This thread saved our floors - WD40 + magic eraser = perfectly clean, no damage to bamboo floors.

 

Annie T, welcome to the forums! It only took 9 years for someone to come up with a viable solution that worked, it seems. Glad you were able to use that information. The key, as I am sure it was mentioned, wipe up glue with water and sponge as you go. You won't need to do further scrubbing

 

I thought the contractor ruined my floor. I read on some bamboo flooring website NOT to use mineral spirits on their bamboo product as it might damage the finish. Well, the contractor used mineral spirits to clean the glue during the install. After the install, I saw several spots where it "looked" ruined. I also saw obvious glue spots. I tried water and vinegar with a lot of elbow grease and it would look good when first put on, but then after it dried, it looked like the same ole crap. I started searching online and came across this forum. In post after post, many were saying that Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser did the trick. I ran out and got some - I got the kind that you get it wet - a little elbow grease and BAM! This did the job! This stuff is magic! The glue and the residue all come off without damaging the finish. Thank you all for posting and creating this thread. This saved me a lot of grief!! Try Magic Eraser to remove glue and glue residue!