Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Are carpet foam pads usually glued or just stapled onto hardwood floors?

Hi all,
I just bought a house and have not inspected the hardwood floors underneath the carpeting. What I know is:

1. Carpeting was put in 3 years ago
2. I'm assuming (and hoping) the hardwood is in good condition because of the perfectionist nature of the previous owner (original owner).

I'm in a huge hurry to remove the carpeting, and I hope that for the time being the floors are in good enough condition so I don't have to sand them down right now. ADHESIVE UNDER THE FOAM PADS WOULD RUIN MY PLAN!!

I helped a professional carpet layer out for a few weeks (100 years ago) and I don't recall him ever using adhesives to lay down the foam pads, we only used staples.

- Does anyone know if it's common to use adhesive when laying carpet on top of hardwood floors?

Thanks,
Matz

I don't think it's common practice, but might want to ask up in the carpet forum.

Adhesive is usually used on concrete not hardwood, but yo can never tell what some bonehead might have done. Another problem can be that the finish on the hardwood attacks the foam pad and makes it stick. Start in a corner and pull the carpet back. You can always lay it back down if you find a problem. The wiorst problems usually occur in the high traffic areas.

I actually started to rip off my carpet and have found that the hallways are the worst part. The foam has left marks of the pattern that was on the foam. The flooring is still in good shape, but a real pain to remove those marks.

Anybody got any good suggestions or the easiest way to remove the foam marks? It took me a while to buff out on small section of the hallway. If anybody got any ideas, I would love to hear from you.

Thanks.

-ken

bonehead indeed! It was both glued and stapled and I had ahell of a time scraping the glue off. I ended up sanding the floors with 80 grit 1 time, then 100 the 2nd time. Then use a water based poly and applied 3 coats. It was more work than I had hoped, but I'm very happy with the end result. Yes, I probably should've sanded more etc, but I got it done in 3 days including sanding and poly. I ended up using a more expensive water based polyurtehane, because of the fast drying time. 48 hours later I moved everything in and so far so good.

Thanks,
Matz