Rugs, Carpets and Carpeting - carpet removal

When removing old carpet from hardwood floors, I found that the padding had desintegrated in some areas and in others had stuck to the wood floor. How do I remove this padding w/out damaging the floor?

The stuck underlay is probably due to spills on the carpet.

Use a plastic disposable putty knife to scrape it off. You might want to get a couple in case you break one. These are strong enough to remove the padding, but not strong enough to damage the floor below. Just take your time.

Ted

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Carpenter's rule:- Cut to fit - Beat into place :-)

I have the same problem in my new house. However, it looks like the carpet backing/padding has adhered pretty consistently (not just in spots) to the oak floor beneath. :-(

A contractor is going to do the actual refinishing, though I'd like to remove the carpet and prep the floor myself as much as possible. I asked the contractor how to remove the adhered material and he suggested mineral spirits might work without damaging the floor. Any comments? Thanks!

I thought mineral spirits would help in releasing to old padding but it didn't work. I scraped as much up as possible with a putty knife and then resanded and finished the floors