provided by: HandyHouseholdHints.com
Removing a carpet seems like a very difficult job in the beginning but with a little work and these helpful tips you can accomplish it easily.
Before you Start the job
∗ You need to plan ahead before going forward with the job. You should know if you will paint the room or doing any other work to the room which may cause a mess. You should do this messy work before you remove the old carpet. You can then get rid of the mess with the old carpet rather than damaging the new one.
Starting the Job
∗ If the old carpet you had was correctly installed then it will be attached firmly to the floor. It will have no handles that you can obviously see in order to get a good hold of it. You need to look at the corners of the carpet in order to find a place to begin. The corners are the hardest to secure in the end of installation and the easiest part of the carpet to get a handle on.
∗ Now you need to find a corner. You can use a screwdriver, with a big flat head, or pliers to pry and pull the carpet up. It may be a good idea to use both of these tools. Once you start to pull up the carpet it will pull off the floor somewhat easily. The good thing about the removal of carpet is that you are able to cut the carpet into smaller pieces in order to make it easier to pull up. If you do cut the carpet do not use a dull knife or scissors as you should get a good and sharp utility knife. Even with a good utility knife a carpet is not the easiest thing to cut but it can make the job a lot simpler.
∗ Now that you have begun to pull the carpet up use the utility knife in order to cut the carpet into manageable pieces. Try to be careful and roll up the mess you may have made on the carpet beforehand. You can also rip the carpet into pieces with a little more effort much like the ripping up of fabric. This is a good option as it can make the job easier. You can even cut around pieces of furniture so you can move them later.
∗ The toughest thing to accomplish is to pull the floor up if there are a lot of things still in the room. It is much easier to take everything out of the room beforehand if you are able to do so. You can also move everything to one side of the room and then pull up the carpet and then move the stuff to the other side and pull up the rest.
∗ If the pad that was underneath the carpet is still in good shape you will be able to reuse it. Be careful not to tear up the padding as well because then you will have to replace that you set the new carpet. This will save you more money and time as well.
∗ Now that you are done be careful that there are no leftover tacks that you might step on or that are left in the carpet. Make sure you thoroughly go over the room to remove all the sharp tacks.
∗ With the old carpet you can roll it up and dispose of it or you can keep it as sometimes old carpet that is not badly ripped can be great for place such as the garage, tool shed, or even your porch. It all depends how the old carpet looks and what you will be using it for.
Author: Jason Green
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