I am moving into a new apartment next week—the first floor of a 2 family house. The two bedrooms had industrial carpets that smelled like dirty, sweaty feet. My husband said it would take a few days to rip up the carpeting, etc., but we decided to do it. It seemed pretty straightforward at first—rug, rug pad, tack strips. Well, the carpeting came up easily and so did the pad—to reveal tons of carpet glue—THREE kinds! There was a yellowish one that is like sticky foam; a liver-colored one that seems like a paper tape; and a black one which is almost like tar paper. I went to Home Depot and picked up Kleen-Strip Adhesive Remover and mineral spirits. The floor itself is in not great shape (gouges, separating boards, etc.). But he went and started in with the solvent and got the less difficult one free of most of the glue (this one had only the liver-colored one and the yellowish one). The second one had the black glue, and the liver and the yellow. The black stuff was not responding very well, so he went back to Home Depot and bought a remover from Goof Off in a white can. It is coming off, but it’s hard going and the floor looks terrible. At this point, I don’t know what to do. Any suggestions? The solvents smell awful and kind of scare me a little—anything that can take off glue must be pretty dangerous. We are broke at this point, and I don’t know what to do with these floors. Also, do the mineral spirits neutralize the solvents? After we use it, can I just mop with water and detergent? How long will it be until the rooms are livable—I mean, that stuff was really strong! I am scared my husband is going to make himself sick and I need to get this stuff off the floor before we can do anything else—which doesn’t look like much at this point. I wish I hadn't taken up the carpet, even if it was disgusting. But now I am here. HELP!!!

Hi All. I have a raised ranch two-unit and the downstairs is carpeted with berber and no pad. I need to replace the carpet and would like to put a pad down. The downstairs has excessive moisture and causes some mold/mildew growth on the walls. Can I use a foam pad or will this also absorb moisture and support mold growth? Am I better off using a rubber pad? What about the Pergo moisture block polyethelyne product sold at home depot? Anyone have any good experiences with it? Thanks for any suggestions!