We just bought a house. The bathroom is carpeted. I find that a strange choice. I believe they also had cats who may have spent time in the bathroom. Everytime I spend time in there getting ready for the day my nose gets very itchy, which is a sign of my cat allergy. We've cleaned the room, but perhaps cat dander is just too imbedded in the carpet. We know we want to replace the floor eventually, but if it's not TERRIBLY expensive, maybe we'll so it sooner rather than later. Or would a professional cleaning do a better job??
By the way, the room is not big... it's an average size. The carpeting might cover 12x6 or so...
2006-09-12 08:33:07 · 12 answers · asked by Proud Momma 6 in Home & Garden ➔ Decorating & Remodeling
Good answers so far. I have never torn up a carpet or anything like that. I am also 8 mos pregnant, so I'd have to convince my hunny to do it for me... This is our first house, so it's all new to both of us...
2006-09-12 08:43:23 · update #1
if it was me, I'd pull the carpet up myself.
2006-09-12 08:35:57 · answer #1 · answered by Scorpius59 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Carpet in a bathroom would make me tend to think of a mold allergy more so than cat dander. It would be a recurring issue as long as carpet remains in the bathroom. The carpet is probably glued down, if you are lucky only around the edges. Removal of the carpet would vary depending on whether the floor is wood or concrete. Eitherway, slicing some X's in the carpet with a very sharp razor knife pulling the carpet is going to be the way to get it going. It is hard work. Once you get the carpet up and the glue scraped, if it is a concrete floor, it's pretty much ready for ceramic tile. If it is wood, you may have some water damage which would need to be removed and replaced first, then install hardy backer board, then ceramic tile. You can get a book and do the tile yourself, that small of a job is not too bad.
2006-09-16 08:28:57 · answer #2 · answered by William E 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should get your man to get a razor knife, hammer, and crow bar and take the carpet up your self. Make sure to take the door down. Then take the toilet up. nothing to it. Two bolts holding it down(may have to take a hacksaw to them if in bad shape) Make sure to cut the water off. Take an adjustable wrench and unhook the water line. Might want to put a small amount of toilet paper over hole so don't stink you out. Clean off old seal off flange and toilet. Clean floor very well. If it is a concrete floor or old tile go down to Lowes or Home Depot and get some patch. Fill the holes and level floor. If wood floor. If in decent shape leave it. If it's bad get enough 1/4'' ply wood and nail it over the floor. Use the shanked nails so they won't back out and nail every 4 squre inches. Either way any holes fill them with patch. Get a hand jamb saw to under cut the door jams. Ask for it at Lowes or Home Depot in the flooring dept. If they don't know what your talking about.....go somewhere else. Anyway under cut the door jambs. Sweep the floor VERY well. The easist to install and most substrate forgiving in my opinion is a product made by Tarkett. It has a fiberglass backing so it does NOT need to be glued down. Its like vinyl comes 12 foot wide by however long you need it. Call around to some local floor covering shops and get at least 3 prices to make sure no one is sticking it to you. I'm sure if you look in the yellow pages under carpet there will be no shortage of stores. I would get this from a carpet store rather then a box store so you get better quality. When you cut it in take your time around the door jam and tuck a litte under if you can. When all done hang the door put some shoe molding down to cover where it is cut short a little. Then put the toilet back in. While at a home store you can get a kit that will have a new seal and new bolts. Get them tight but don't over tighten it will break the toilet. Then enjoy. Based on a 12x6 your shopping list should look like this.
Lowes or Home Depot:
-jamb saw
-toilet kit (bolts and seal)
-shoemolding 5 pcs of 8 foot shoe molding
-patch
-#6 finishing nails to install shoemolding
If you have a wood subfloor you may also need;
-2 pcs of 4x8 1/4'' plywood for underlayment
-#8 shanked nails
Crash course. Not to hard. Best of luck to you!!!
2006-09-14 10:29:04 · answer #3 · answered by aaron b 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Whatever you do, don't tear up that carpeting yourself! Not only are you allergic but you wouldn't want to miscarry.
As for the carpeting, get a handy man (if your honey doesn't want to do it). You can find ads for handy men in your local paper. Have him tear it up and take off anything under the carpet. Try to leave the floor as smooth as possible. You can then put down sticky tiles. Of course, this is just a temporary solution but it'll work until you're ready to go the whole hog....
2006-09-12 13:16:49 · answer #4 · answered by The ReDesign Diva 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I tore up my bathroom carpet about 2 months ago. I, too, thought it strange to carpet that room.
It was not terribly hard to do -- I just tore up one end, and from there tore up another section, and so on until all was up. The previous owners had not attached the carpet with glue or any such adhesive.
Beneath it is ugly ceramic tile, but I figured the tile is much easier to clean than the dirty, smelly carpet that was left by the previous owner. (My only cost was for cleaning products for the tile)
We will eventually replace the tile, but for now it is so much nicer to not smell/see that carpet. The previous owners had dogs, and I guess they stayed in the bathroom.
2006-09-12 10:22:52 · answer #5 · answered by dd 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hubby can do it! There really isn't much he can do wrong.
If I may be forward and suggest the two of you change plans and consider putting in vinyl tiles. Carpet in a bath is not a great idea as it holds water.
Vinyl tiles are really not too challenging. Most will go down as full pieces. It progresses pretty quickly. And if he makes a few mistakes starting out, no big deal. They are just small squares, he can get a few more.
2006-09-12 09:13:56 · answer #6 · answered by In The Woods 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you use a razor knife around all the edges it would be a simple job to take the carpet out yourself. Then you can hire someone that does a good job for little cost like home depot to either re-carpet or tile the area. This would cost little more than having a professional cleaner come out to your house and clean it.
2006-09-12 08:41:05 · answer #7 · answered by jusme 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I just removed all of the carpet in my house by myself. I got a carpet knife, cut it in managable sections aand pulled it up. Then the padding came up...used a scraper for parts that were stuck. A hammer got up all of the tack strip.
2006-09-12 09:17:32 · answer #8 · answered by diturtlelady2004 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It easy to remove carpet if it isnt glued down. just start pulling it up it's a snap
2006-09-12 08:42:48 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its better to do it yourself considering that the room probably isn't that big...Save the money, do it yourself, and the money you would have used to pay someone--you can do something else with...
And congrats on the purchase of your home!
2006-09-12 08:39:10 · answer #10 · answered by Uh-May-Zing 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋