We called the sunroom rug “Stinky.” It was a practical choice: the rug had damp corners from moisture seeping in through failing slider seals and some rotted wood. The previous owners had disclosed the moisture and odor problem, which helped explain the lower listing price. As much as the rug sounded like a curse, it was actually a hidden blessing — fixing this issue let us buy a house we love and tackle the work ourselves.
Here’s how we removed that rug, the glued-down rug pad beneath it, and the many nails and staples that had been hiding below. First, we freed a corner of the rug with a small crowbar to disengage it from the tack strips around the room’s perimeter.
After loosening the edges, we rolled each side toward the middle of the room like scrolls. Once both sides met in the center, we used a box cutter to slice the rug in half, which made the sections easier to carry out. You can cut a rug before rolling it, but rolling first gave enough slack to make the cut simpler. Then we carried the two halves out, doing our best to avoid breathing in any lingering odors.
Next came the rug pad, which unfortunately had been glued down in many places. We had hoped it was simply a floating pad so the concrete wouldn’t be covered in adhesive stains, but glue it was. We removed as much of the pad by hand as possible, and for the stubborn, glued-down areas we used a floor scraper that had already proved useful during other carpet removals. The scraper’s sharp blade slices under the adhesive; with firm, steady strokes it essentially peels the glue from the concrete, leaving the surface smooth.
With the scraper in action, most of the adhesive bumps came up, even though some glue stains had soaked into the concrete and remained visible. While I worked the scraper, John pried up the tack strips around the room. The strips were old wood with nails protruding; they were brittle and tended to splinter instead of lifting cleanly. Even using a pry bar every few inches, the strips repeatedly broke, so that part of the job took much longer than pulling up the carpet itself. All told, it took about an hour and a half to remove the pad, excess adhesive, and tack strips after just ten minutes of carpet removal.
After removing the tack strips and large nails, we cleaned up the debris. We picked out the long wood shards by hand to dispose of separately, then swept the smaller splinters, nails, glue balls, and tufts of carpet into piles and vacuumed them with a shop vac. The difference was immediate: the room finally felt open and usable again.
Even with visible glue stains on the concrete, the bare floor was a vast improvement over the swampy, dirty carpet. The scraping left the surface flush and smooth, so the spots that had once been raised by adhesive, nails, and staples were no longer an issue.
Our next step will be a thorough cleaning followed by a stain- and odor-blocking primer to make sure any remaining smell is sealed in. After that, we plan to apply porch and floor paint to cover the stains and protect the surface. That should eliminate most of the lingering odor and make the room roughly 98% more pleasant to use.
We also have bigger plans for the sunroom in the future. Beyond this initial cleanup, we’d like to:
Rip up old stinky carpet and padding- Scrub and seal the concrete to lock in any remaining smell
- Stain or paint the concrete floor as part of Phase 1*
- Permanently remove the half-broken baseboard heater
- Retile the floor with outdoor-safe stone as a Phase 2 upgrade
- Convert the sunroom into an open, covered porch with new columns and no more faulty sliders
- Possibly add a brick outdoor fireplace after opening up the space
- Add beadboard to the ceiling and paint it a soft blue
*This is a preliminary plan; if we discover that painting the floor will limit future tiling options, we’ll adjust and share the updated approach.
We’re relieved to have that old carpet out of the house. Even though hauling it to the garage ourselves was unpleasant, the result was totally worth it. The room already feels fresher and more functional, and we’re excited about the next steps in transforming this space.
Also, Clara’s been posting more updates on her blog — one recent post had us laughing until we cried.