Preparing to lay down 5/16 hard-wood flooring, after removing the carpet, I noticed that the wood underlayment was splashed with paint from the walls and blotches from the pop-corn ceiling.
I figured to remove them with a belt-sander, but it proved to be a lot of work. Not to mention the fine dust all around the house.
Is it really necessary to remove the paint before gluing the floor down?
Another question: how to figure out the structural beams direction under the underlayment (the floor is supposed to me laid down perpendicular to them)?
On a side note, the belt sander seems to fairly effective to level adjacent underlayment panels.
Any advice to a weekend handy man?
TIA