3 Tips For Removing Carpet

If you are planning on upgrading the flooring in your home, you will first need to remove the current flooring. If you have carpet, it takes more than just cutting and pulling it up. With the right technique, you can get that carpet pulled up without causing damage to the flooring underneath.    

Get the Room Ready

Before you start removing the carpet, you need to get the room ready. First, remove all doors that swing toward the inside of the room and any closet doors. If doors swing toward the outside of the room, they should be okay where they are. Now, remove all furniture from the room. With some of the doors removed, this should make it easier to get the furniture out and moved to another room temporarily. You may need to disassemble some things. You also need to wear protection, including a dust mask to protect you from inhaling carpet dust, safety glasses, and gloves to protect your hands.

Remove the Top Layer of Carpeting

The first step to removing carpet is the top layer, followed by the carpet padding and staples. The top layer of carpeting will first need to pulled up, starting where the tack strip is at the walls. It is a good idea to start at the back wall of a room, finding a corner to work with. You can either cut the carpeting away from the tack strip at the corners, or grab it with your pliers and start pulling. Either way, use pliers to pull it away instead of your hands, as it is more effective and less labor-intensive. Once it starts to pull away, use your gloved hands to keep folding it back and rolling it up as you do so. You can also cut up the carpet into strips to maneuver it more easily as you pull it up.

Remove the Carpet Padding

When you have all of the top carpeting removed, you need to pull up the padding next. This is actually a lot easier than removing carpet. It is already cut into smaller sections, so you just remove one section at a time. Most carpet padding is attached to the subfloor underneath with either glue or staples. If it is secured with staples, it is a little easier to remove. Make sure you wear gloves while doing this so you don't get injured by the staples. You just need to grasp at a corner of the padding and pull it up, pulling the staples along with it. With glued padding, it might take a little more force or scraping it off the subfloor.

At this point, you simply need to remove the tack strips and any remaining staples.

For further assistance, contact a local outlet, such as National Carpet Mill Outlet.


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