You’ve decided to get new carpet for your home. That’s going to look beautiful, but could end up being quite a job. You can save money on the fee of the contractor by removing the old carpet yourself. And, if it’s time to replace carpet, chances are it’s time to replace the carpet padding, too. After removing the old carpet, you could be wonderfully surprised to find that the padding is only tacked in a few places and can be easily removed. More likely, you’ll remove the old carpet and any number of horrors await you. The person who laid the carpet padding may have been staple-crazy and put staples every couple of inches in the padding, across the entire room. Get the needlenose pliers ready. It’s going to take some time to remove all those staples. Some people find it easier to first remove all the staples, then the padding, whereas others say it’s easier to remove as much padding as possible, then begin with the staple removal process. Either way will take some time if there are a lot of staples. If a staple is shot too far into the padding, use the tip of a knife to pry it up without breaking it, then remove it with the pliers. The best way is to grab the staple a little to the side, then twist it over to the other side. Usually one side of the staple will detach, making it easier to yank the remainder of the staple. Grabbing the staple in the center and pulling it quickly can often break the staple, leaving you now with two pieces to remove. If the padding was placed over the top of something like floor tiles, you’ll have an even harder time removing the staples. Sometimes a staple simply will not come out. Each time you attempt to remove it, it just breaks down a little more. In this case, bend the staple end downward and hammer it flat, but this is only appropriate if you’re laying more padding.
A worse horror than staples is glue. If the padding was formerly glued, you have quite a job on your hands. If you’re fortunate, the glue has only been placed along the perimeter of the room. If not, remove as much of the carpet padding as possible. Soak the floor in mineral spirits then use a putty knife to scrape up the adhesive. The process may have to be done two or three times before all traces of the glue are gone. This is time-consuming, back-breaking, knee-aching work, but it has to be done in order for the new padding to lay properly. Depending upon the type of floor you have, you may have to get a sander to sand the remainder of the adhesive from the floor. This isn’t the best idea if you’re trying to preserve the floor beneath from any abrasion.
If you’re removing the carpet and padding from one room, but stopping at the hallway, for instance, cut across the doorway floor with a carpet knife, severing the carpet and the padding. Now remove tack strip, carpet, staples, padding and so forth in the room you’re remodeling. Where the carpet and padding were cut, nail down divider strip to hold them down. Choose a durable carpet padding, rather than worry about cost, if you’ll be laying new carpet, but even if you’re not, you’re well on your way to your new floors.
