How best to remove glued-on stair nosing?

October 2, 2007 8:01 AM

I need to remove and replace 3/4" hardwood stair nosing that has been attached to the subfloor with some sort of adhesive.

(The subfloor is plywood. The nosing was glued because it is the end of the floor -- there's nowhere other than the board face in which to put a nail.)

I've started cutting and chiseling away at one of the boards, but there are two problems: First, much of the adhesive is staying behind on the subfloor. I'll need to remove it before I install the replacement nosing. Second, I can't reach the strip of nosing that lies beneath the tongue of the next floor board. Chiseling under the tongue is sure to destroy it.

So is there a way to cleanly remove the nosing and the adhesive? And should I remove the next board as well (presumably nailed down, not glued), in order to give myself some extra space for the adhesive removal and a cleaner overall repair? I'm pretty sure that next board is just nailed in, and we have plenty of extra floor boards for the repair.

posted by oncogenesis to home & garden (8 comments total)

Pictures, plz.
posted by electroboy at 8:13 AM on October 2, 2007

If you can get a circular saw in there you should be able to cut right down the seam, removing the offending board and adhesive at one time. I used that technique on a door that I had to replace some trim on.
posted by TedW at 9:35 AM on October 2, 2007

I'm at work, so no pictures today. :-(
posted by oncogenesis at 9:47 AM on October 2, 2007

If it's construction adhesive, your best bet is probably just a really sharp scraper and some careful handwork. Paint stripper may help remove the residue, but I suspect a paint scraper may be the tool of choice for cleanup.

Can you hide or paint the area afterward?
posted by bonehead at 10:29 AM on October 2, 2007

There is adhesive remover in the tile section of your local home improvement store. It's almost like a paste - you leave it one for 5-10 minutes and then scrape the adhesive off.

Sorry - I can't answer your question about the nosing.
posted by Ostara at 11:30 AM on October 2, 2007

Leave it on, I meant. I just bought some and I think it was $6.50 or so for a fairly large can. It's worked really well for me.
posted by Ostara at 11:31 AM on October 2, 2007

Welcome to hell.

(I had to remove 650 sq. feet of hardwood glued onto concrete slab. Do you know that you can't even pay people do do that for you? You just have to hack it up, piece by piece? And that adhesive removers suck balls (at least on concrete) and you eventually have to chisel it off, piece by piece, with a crowbar and a masonry chisel?)

Aaanyway.

I think your best bet, honestly, is to tear out the nosing, the next board, and the subfloor. If your subfloor is on joists, you should be able to replace it pretty easily. I think it's going to be a lot easier than removing that adhesive from plywood. Your adhesive - is it of a solid, really hard consistency much like concrete itself? Or perhaps a gluey, soft, combed appearance, possibly grey or yellowish in tone? Seriously man, I'd get a circular saw and saw out that chunk of subflooring and replace it. Plywood is cheap.
posted by mckenney at 3:54 PM on October 2, 2007

I just muscled out the nosing, and it took a good 1/8" of the subfloor with it. mckenney is right. I'm going to remove the next floor board and replace the damaged subfloor.

Thanks, everyone!
posted by oncogenesis at 8:04 PM on October 5, 2007