Are you thinking about removing and replacing your carpet all on your own? Before you do, you might want to check out these pieces of advice:
Minimize hazards
Before you begin tearing up carpet, remove any doors that swing into the room, including bifold closet doors. Doors that swing into adjoining rooms can stay in place. Then clear the floor completely, removing all the furniture from the room. Slip on a pair of gloves to protect your knuckles from the abrasive carpet backing and the needle-sharp tack strip. There’s a lot of dust trapped inside old carpet. So if you’re sensitive to dust, strap on a dust mask, too. Source: FamilyHandyman
Determine whether to DIY or let a professional handle the job
Carpeting is “big, heavy, and bulky,” Lincon says, “and just the act of pulling it up is more difficult than it might seem at first.” For starters, carpeting attaches to the floor along the edges of the walls via tack strips, narrow strips of wood covered in hundreds of sharp nails that have enough grip to keep carpeting taut and in place. Once you’ve managed to pry the carpet from these tacks (a job best saved for someone with a strong back), the tack strips must then be pried from the floor and the old carpet pad removed. Carpet pads are typically installed with either staples or glue; if yours used the latter, you’ll have a fair amount of scraping ahead of you to get the old glue off. Source: BobVila
Think about disposal
- If you want the installers of the new floor to haul away the old carpet, make sure they know in advance and figure it into your price. Also, make sure that they know not to charge you for the time to tear out the carpet or move furniture.
- Call the dump where you usually take or send your trash and find out what they charge for disposal. Some may charge a different rate for carpet, so be sure to mention that it is carpet.
- Make sure you have some way to haul away the carpet you will discard. Hauling services are often available, as are rental trucks. Check out your phone book and see what you find. Source: WikiHow
If you want to just sit back and relax as you leave this heavy labour task to a professional, call us today!
