How do you take up old carpeting easily, safely and without damaging the floors beneath?

Question

We're closing soon on an older home with wood floors beneath some very disgusting, tatty old wall-to-wall carpeting. I'd like to remove it and rehab the floors. Anyone have experience? Any pros out there who'd care to give a parvenue some advice? Thanks!

15 minutes later: yes, we're closing mid-August, and not planning to move in for several weeks, while we rehab floors, paint, etc. I didn't think about the issue of padding fused to the floor...thanks for warning me.

Answer 1

pull your carpet up close to the wall and just pull it up,it shouldnt be glued if it is some one put it down with glue they didnt know what they were doing.carpet uses tack strips close to the wall and they stretch it then tack the carpet to the tack strips.just pull close to the wall and roll the carpet up and dispose.pull the tack strips up and use a filler to fill in the holes where the nails were.rent a sander to do the floors and restain them.

Answer 2

carpeting is usually attached to the floor at the baseboards with something called "Tack strips". These are narrow wooden strips with carpet nails sticking up from them. If you pry the carpeting up at the baseboard, you will see these strips. They are usually nailed to the floors. Once the carpeting is removed from the tack strips, you can simply roll it up, remove the padding and take it all outside to the dumpster. The tack strips can then be removed from the floors with a pry bar or the claw part of a hammer. Be careful not to stick yourself with the carpet nails! They are sharp.

If I were you, I would not bother refinishing old pine floors. They aren't worth the work. Only refinish hard woods.

Sanding and refinishing an older wood floor takes meticulous care. There are some difficulties, too: first, the sander itself is very hard to handle if you're a slightly-built person. It's a large machine, usually. Unless you can control the sander, it's easy to dig "holes" in your floor with it--depressions that the sanding belt cause when the sander is left in one place too long. Also, you must be certain not to let any nails stick up to rip the belt while it's moving. You'll have to go around your floor and feel for nails you can't see before starting.

You'll also need to use a hand-sander to get into corners and along baseboards.

It's also very dusty. Don't believe anyone who tells you that the "bag" on these things catches all the dust. Cover everything you're not sanding and wear a mask! The dust is very fine, and toxic to breathe in, and it gets into EVERYTHING. Remove anything you don't want to have to clean later, such as pillows, knick-knacks, books, etc.

Once you get the floor sanded, vacuum it thoroughly with a very good vacuum--and again, wear a dust mask. Then using your hand-sander, even out any rough spots, or places you missed, Then vacuum again.

Finally, you shoul be ready to stain and coat your floor. Use a roller to apply the stain, and use a pad to apply the polyurethane.
Work in sections, and allow sufficient time for drying before moving any furniture back into your room. It may take a couple of days for any top coats to dry thoroughly enough to place furniture on them without marking.

Some nice alternatives to sanding, and refinishing old wood floors are laminate flooring (very inexpensive at IKEA--almost a third of the price everyone else charges!) and vinyl flooring that looks like wood flooring. If the floor under the carpet looks like too big a job to do properly, you might want to consider these alternatives.

Refinished wood floors are not necessarily an asset in a home. Unless it's done right with great care, they can actually detract from your home's value. Laminate floors are very easy to care for, washable, add insulation, and look beautiful. They wear a lot longer than refinished hardwoods, and require no special care or cleaners.

I'd check all the alternatives before refinishing.

Answer 3

Carpet is held down on the Edge to a Tack Strip, just start in a corner and pull up, the pad in most cases will be Stapled down- Cut carpet into pieces, and dump it, some market for it in some places-

If the pad is glued, which is not likely, you will have to find a remover, if your refinishing the floor, be careful what you use-

Answer 4

Hire at least 2, 300lb. gorillas . . .
If the carpeting is that old the floor is probably partially damaged from the padding being stuck to it, and various spills, pet stuff etc. Plan on refinishing floors BEFORE you move in, you won't regret it.

Answer 5

i am a painting contractor,but i have seen this done many times .take a razor knife and cut the carpet about every 3ft apart all the way across the room.the carpet will roll right up in 3ft sections that are not heavy.once the carpet is up then pull the padding up and pull the staples out of your floor.they were put there to hold the padding.hope this helps.

Answer 6

just pull up the old carpet and if the floor beneath is hardwood, refinish it. Refinishing usually requires stripping any old sealer/finish off and then sanding (with a floor sander) and then staining and sealing with something like urethane

Answer 7

call a pro