Taking Up Carpet

Of carpet and cut it into easy to handle strips photo 1.

Taking up carpet.

Just grab the carpet with pliers and pull. If it won t come up then cut a small 6 inch by 6 inch square in the corner with your utility knife. One way to do this is to lift the carpet away from the floor as you cut. Lifting up a carpet is a lot easier with the help of an assistant.

Learning how to clean old hardwood floors after removing carpet is easier than most people think it simply takes a little bit more time than a traditional floor clean. Use a utility knife or carpet knife to slice the carpet into manageable strips and roll the strips up as you go. Carpet glue is an incredibly strong adhesive designed to fix rolls of carpet to concrete floors. Take any doors off the hinges that swing into the room where the carpet will be removed using a screwdriver and hammer.

Roll or fold the strip secure with duct tape and remove it from the room. Though incredibly effective this specialty glue is also notorious because it leaves behind sticky residue that is hard to remove with traditional removal methods. Keep both hands on the knife to avoid cutting a free hand. Remove this small piece of carpet and then pull up on the larger section.

Remove the 3 foot wide carpet sections from the tack strips by shaking the carpet in a back and forth motion while pulling it up from the surface of the floor. Use a utility knife with a sharp new blade to cut through the carpet backing. Start at one corner of your room and try to pull up the carpet. With the help of the right products and a little bit of patience you ll be well on your way to restoring your hardwood to its original glory.

Then grab the carpet by hand and continue to pull it up along an entire wall. To detach the carpet from the tack strip that holds the carpet in place along walls start in a corner. Thus you shouldn t have to remove the baseboards when taking out smelly carpet. Pull back a corner of the carpet using a pair of pliers.

If you are trying to salvage the floor underneath make sure you do not cut grooves in the floor with the knife. Pull up a few feet of carpet and fold it over.