Even the most inexperienced do-it-yourselfer must start somewhere. If the idea of DIY projects fascinates you, removing old carpet is a good exercise for beginners to tackle. Before you strap on that spiffy tool belt, there are things to do.
Talk to the Installer
If you've already received an itemized quote from the installer, you might be able to see how much you save by tearing out your old carpeting. Otherwise, ask for two estimates, one where you do the removal of the old carpet and one where they do it. Most of the work to remove old carpet isn't difficult, but is time consuming and time means money. You'll often save quite a bit by doing it yourself.
Gather the Tools You'll Need
You'll need some tools to do the job. You may already have these on hand or can easily access them. First, get personal protective equipment---PPE. This includes heavy work gloves, a dust mask, safety glasses, kneepads and good sturdy shoes to protect your feet. You'll also need a pry bar, hammer, long-handled scraper and a utility knife with plenty of blades. For clean up, use a broom and dustpan or a heavy-duty shop vac. If you don't own a shop vac, you can rent one.
Prepare the Space
You'll need the area clean and free from furniture or other items. Move everything to another room. Also, take off any interior doors, including closet doors and those for room entrance.
Before you begin happily ripping and snipping carpet, don your personal protective equipment (PPE): ensure you're wearing those sturdy shoes, put on your dust mask and safety glasses and slip on your heavy work gloves.
It's Time to Start Removing the Carpet
Begin your quest in any corner of the room. Use your pliers to secure and pull a piece away from the floor. This will allow you to find out whether the installers stapled or glued the carpet to the floor. If there's a tack strip holding the carpet, grab the piece and continue to pull until you've lifted the carpet entirely along one wall.
Carpet is cumbersome to move when it's as wide as the room. To avoid that problem, you'll be cutting it in strips as you take it out. Once you've pulled one side from the tack strips, fold over a three-foot section away from one wall, making it easier to cut the backing. Cut the backing so you now have an "easy-to-remove" strips you can roll up and remove. Continue in the same manner until you've finished the carpeting.
In the event your carpet was glued in place, you can use a steam cleaner to wet the carpet and loosen it from the glue.
You've Got Stairs...
Sometimes, there are carpeted stairs to wrangle. You'll need to begin at the top if you have them. Many installers use a metal strip at the top to hold the carpeting in place. To remove that strip, simply use the pry bar. If there's no metal strip, cut the carpet on the top riser to start the process.
Once cut, use the pliers to grasp the loose end then begin pulling. For one continuous piece of carpet, it's easiest if you cut it into manageable strips. Many stairs have individual pieces wrapped around each of the stair treads and risers, so you won't need to do any cutting.
Tackling the Carpet Pad
Once you have successfully removed the old carpet, you must deal with the carpet pad. Generally the seams of the padding are tacked to the floor with staples. Grip any seam and start pulling the carpet pad loose from the floor.
You're halfway done once you get rid of the carpeting, but you still have the padding left. In most cases, installers tacked down the padding at the seams using staples. Grab any piece of padding at the seam and pull. It should come loose from the floor.
If you're hired a professional to sand and finish your floors, use your pry bar to scrape up the balance of the staples. Otherwise, pry the little bits of padding and staples loose with pliers.
There's normally only one way to install carpeting on concrete floors and that's with glue. Sometimes, installers use glue on wood floors too. If that's the case, you'll still have pieces of padding stuck to the floor. The long-handled scraper is your best friend when this occurs. Use it to scrape away any pad remaining on the floor.
If you've found the padding glued to the floor, which is normally the case if the carpeting is on concrete, you'll need to scrape the floor. Use your long-handled scraper to do this. It removes not only the little pieces of carpet pad stuck to the floor but also the glue too.
There are a few rules to govern whether you remove the tack strip or leave it. In most cases, leaving the old tack strip is best. Even if your installer tells you to leave the tack strip, but you find rust or rot, you need to remove it or at least the bad sections. Any rust can stain your new carpet and bleed through to the top.
If you're having new carpeting installed, in most cases, you won't remove the tack strip. There are a few exceptions, however. If there's rust on the strip or rot, remove the sections with containing either. It can jeopardize the integrity of the new installation or bleed through and stain the new carpet.
Also, the tack strip must come up in order to refinish or install new hardwoods.
How to Remove the Tack Strips
This is the most difficult step of removing old carpet. Get your pry bar, pliers and hammer. The tack strip is adhered to the floor with a gazillion nails, in 6" increments. Keep repeating these steps until you're done:
When using a pry bar, keep in mind, it will mar the floor beneath. If you want to avoid damage to the floor, always insert a piece of cardboard so it creates a barrier between the floor and the pry bar. Slide the bar beneath the side of the tack strip. Tap the bar with a hammer to push it under, give you more leverage and loosen the strip. Now push down the pry bar to lift the tack strip. Sometimes it breaks into small pieces; you'll probably still find nails in the flooring when this occurs. Use your pliers to remove these nails and any others you find still left in the floor.
Tidy Up
You can use your trusty broom and dustpan for clean up or go higher tech, vacuuming the area. If you vacuum, make certain you use a heavy-duty shop vac created for these types of jobs. You'll ruin your home vacuum sweeper if you attempt to use it for this job. If you don't have access to a shop vac, many places have them for rent.
Good job! Now, either call in the pros for your carpet install or try an easy carpet tile install!
Talk to the Installer
If you've already received an itemized quote from the installer, you might be able to see how much you save by tearing out your old carpeting. Otherwise, ask for two estimates, one where you do the removal of the old carpet and one where they do it. Most of the work to remove old carpet isn't difficult, but is time consuming and time means money. You'll often save quite a bit by doing it yourself.
Gather the Tools You'll Need
You'll need some tools to do the job. You may already have these on hand or can easily access them. First, get personal protective equipment---PPE. This includes heavy work gloves, a dust mask, safety glasses, kneepads and good sturdy shoes to protect your feet. You'll also need a pry bar, hammer, long-handled scraper and a utility knife with plenty of blades. For clean up, use a broom and dustpan or a heavy-duty shop vac. If you don't own a shop vac, you can rent one.
Prepare the Space
You'll need the area clean and free from furniture or other items. Move everything to another room. Also, take off any interior doors, including closet doors and those for room entrance.
Before you begin happily ripping and snipping carpet, don your personal protective equipment (PPE): ensure you're wearing those sturdy shoes, put on your dust mask and safety glasses and slip on your heavy work gloves.
It's Time to Start Removing the Carpet
Begin your quest in any corner of the room. Use your pliers to secure and pull a piece away from the floor. This will allow you to find out whether the installers stapled or glued the carpet to the floor. If there's a tack strip holding the carpet, grab the piece and continue to pull until you've lifted the carpet entirely along one wall.
Carpet is cumbersome to move when it's as wide as the room. To avoid that problem, you'll be cutting it in strips as you take it out. Once you've pulled one side from the tack strips, fold over a three-foot section away from one wall, making it easier to cut the backing. Cut the backing so you now have an "easy-to-remove" strips you can roll up and remove. Continue in the same manner until you've finished the carpeting.
In the event your carpet was glued in place, you can use a steam cleaner to wet the carpet and loosen it from the glue.
You've Got Stairs...
Sometimes, there are carpeted stairs to wrangle. You'll need to begin at the top if you have them. Many installers use a metal strip at the top to hold the carpeting in place. To remove that strip, simply use the pry bar. If there's no metal strip, cut the carpet on the top riser to start the process.
Once cut, use the pliers to grasp the loose end then begin pulling. For one continuous piece of carpet, it's easiest if you cut it into manageable strips. Many stairs have individual pieces wrapped around each of the stair treads and risers, so you won't need to do any cutting.
Tackling the Carpet Pad
Once you have successfully removed the old carpet, you must deal with the carpet pad. Generally the seams of the padding are tacked to the floor with staples. Grip any seam and start pulling the carpet pad loose from the floor.
You're halfway done once you get rid of the carpeting, but you still have the padding left. In most cases, installers tacked down the padding at the seams using staples. Grab any piece of padding at the seam and pull. It should come loose from the floor.
If you're hired a professional to sand and finish your floors, use your pry bar to scrape up the balance of the staples. Otherwise, pry the little bits of padding and staples loose with pliers.
There's normally only one way to install carpeting on concrete floors and that's with glue. Sometimes, installers use glue on wood floors too. If that's the case, you'll still have pieces of padding stuck to the floor. The long-handled scraper is your best friend when this occurs. Use it to scrape away any pad remaining on the floor.
If you've found the padding glued to the floor, which is normally the case if the carpeting is on concrete, you'll need to scrape the floor. Use your long-handled scraper to do this. It removes not only the little pieces of carpet pad stuck to the floor but also the glue too.
There are a few rules to govern whether you remove the tack strip or leave it. In most cases, leaving the old tack strip is best. Even if your installer tells you to leave the tack strip, but you find rust or rot, you need to remove it or at least the bad sections. Any rust can stain your new carpet and bleed through to the top.
If you're having new carpeting installed, in most cases, you won't remove the tack strip. There are a few exceptions, however. If there's rust on the strip or rot, remove the sections with containing either. It can jeopardize the integrity of the new installation or bleed through and stain the new carpet.
Also, the tack strip must come up in order to refinish or install new hardwoods.
How to Remove the Tack Strips
This is the most difficult step of removing old carpet. Get your pry bar, pliers and hammer. The tack strip is adhered to the floor with a gazillion nails, in 6" increments. Keep repeating these steps until you're done:
When using a pry bar, keep in mind, it will mar the floor beneath. If you want to avoid damage to the floor, always insert a piece of cardboard so it creates a barrier between the floor and the pry bar. Slide the bar beneath the side of the tack strip. Tap the bar with a hammer to push it under, give you more leverage and loosen the strip. Now push down the pry bar to lift the tack strip. Sometimes it breaks into small pieces; you'll probably still find nails in the flooring when this occurs. Use your pliers to remove these nails and any others you find still left in the floor.
Tidy Up
You can use your trusty broom and dustpan for clean up or go higher tech, vacuuming the area. If you vacuum, make certain you use a heavy-duty shop vac created for these types of jobs. You'll ruin your home vacuum sweeper if you attempt to use it for this job. If you don't have access to a shop vac, many places have them for rent.
Good job! Now, either call in the pros for your carpet install or try an easy carpet tile install!
About the Author:
Thank you to our new friends at Best Carpet Value for helping us with information on carpet, carpet tile, and hardwood flooring. Contact Best Carpet Value for more information on carpet.
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