OT - pulling up carpet to reveal hardwood underneath

[Patti7dc]

so.... the title says it all.

I moved into this house 3 years ago and they had a plush WHITE carpet put all over the house because they had a crawling baby. However, there are hardwoods hidden underneath and I'd like to go back to hardwoods for two reasons.

1 - white and I do not mix. I am constantly spilling things on it and the cat hair shows up extremely well.
2 - I have had a couple aquarium accidents (most recent one last week with the freshwater tank) and the carpet is starting to smell "mildewy".

So does anyone have any tips for me before I google away and start this project on my own?? I'd like to try and do it without bugging my dad for help.

 

[Jacwil]

We pulled up a corner of our carpet about six months after we moved in and found oak hardwood floors. We simply just yanked it up, scrubbed where needed and vacuumed. .. good to go.

If you're worried about your dt's just open windows and set fans up to blow out and you'll be fine.

 

[akitareefer]

I've pulled up carpet before. It was fairly simple. Just cut out sections and roll up the rug pieces/padding and send it to the curb. Worst part was taking out the nails and tacks in the wood. A good set of pliers is key. Also need a hammer and crow bar. Just beware of what could be looming under the carpets. There could be large spill marks, or parts were the wood doesn't match. Floors may need to be refinished, that's the part I couldn't do myself.


*** my daddy still changes my oil, changes my wiper blades, fixes my lawnmower....the list goes on lol

 

[Zombiecowmeat]

We bought ours a couple years ago and the previous owners had horrible taste. one room had pink walls and a green carpet. underneath was hardwood, so we just pulled it up and sanded and poly'ed and its like a whole new room now haha

 

[draczka2]

when i bought our current house my wife would not move until i remodeled it. knocked down a wall between the kitchen and dining room, removed the whole kitchen and made a huge kitchen for her with a 12' island. i also took out all the carpeting and refinished every hardwood floor in the house. that was 8 years ago, and we are due to refinish the floors again. me and 7 kids are hard on the floors.

 

[SkiFletch]

Pulling up the carpet is easy. Just grab a corner and pull up. Use pliers if need be to get a firm grip. Cut into manageable rolls being careful not to cut e wood with a SHARP utility knife. Gently and carefully remove the tack strips with a nail bar and roll remaining staples with channel lock pliers. Grab the staple with pliers, squeeze tight, and roll towards the curved side. Will pull the staple right up.

Beware, if the pad is old and cheap, it may have stuck glue to the floor. What a PITA that is...

 

[Patti7dc]

Wow - thanks for the response. Ya'll make it seem relatively easy. That's good news. I appreciate what to look out for as well.

when i bought our current house my wife would not move until i remodeled it. knocked down a wall between the kitchen and dining room, removed the whole kitchen and made a huge kitchen for her with a 12' island. i also took out all the carpeting and refinished every hardwood floor in the house.

YOU WANT TO REMODEL MY KITCHEN? haha - that's awesome that you did it all yourself.

I am putting in a new tub/shower in the coming weeks with my dad's help - so I wanted to try and do this flooring project on my own. Shortly after I moved in I had one cat pass away and the other cat was so upset she decided she didn't want to use the litterbox anymore and used the corner of the living room for a weekend.... Needless to say I had to pull up that corner and replace the pad and clean the carpet top to bottom. The pad that was put down wasn't stainmaster or anything - it was the cheap kind so I'm fully planning on having it stick and most likely having to refinish the floors once all is pulled up.

 

[Breadman03]

Wow - thanks for the response. Ya'll make it seem relatively easy. That's good news. I appreciate what to look out for as well.

Simple, yes. Easy, maybe.

My former landlord found terribly stained wood. My brother-in-law found wood that just needed a scrubbing. Before you commit to it, be ready for a major refinishing project or having new carpet installed.

 

[NirvanaFan]

I pulled up half the carpet in our house in a day. It's not difficult, but it gave me a sore back for a couple days. Be prepared for that.

Like the others said, be prepared to refinish the floors if necessary. We have original hardwood floors in our house. I've refinished almost all of them in the past 5 years.

 

[Gravesj1s]

Its worth noting that hardwood can only be refinished ,as in re-sanding, twice, after the orginal install.The "tounge" & "groove" are 3/8" below the surface. So each time its refinished you typically lose about an 1/8" on average.

If the overall floor looks good but has some staining or discoloration you can use household bleach to remove it. a few times if needed. It works very well. Youll have to restain it to match of course.

Don't forget when the carpet gets installed the quarter round gets removed.So when you pull out the cpt you may have to plan on that.

-Steve

 

[Patti7dc]

I've understood most of what people have said except I don't know what quarter round is.

The hardwoods in the dining room and first floor bedroom weren't covered with carpet and they look nice - but I don't think they've been refinished a lot.

 

[SkiFletch]

Quarter round is the small trim that fits between the baseboard and the wood floor. It looks like a quarter of a cylinder

 

[NirvanaFan]

Quarter round

 

[Patti7dc]

ohhh - that goes around the edges? I see now.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

If its been painted it will look like one piece with the baseboard. You house may not have used it. If its been painted, you'll need to cut the trim free with your knife or it could break, at the very least the paint will chip and flake. I would try not doing anything with the trim first and see how it goes.

 

[emm0909]

I drilled through my floor for plumbing two weeks ago and discovered I've got wood floors under my carpet too. I want to pull the carpet up so bad but am afraid that if I do the hardwoods will have some issue that wont allow them to be refinished. What if the installer glued the padding to the hardwoods? Is that ever done?

 

[NirvanaFan]

I'm not sure if that's ever done, but the padding wasn't glued on mine. People that don't really know what they are doing tend to do some pretty weird things though. If you're going to refinish the floors (which you may have to), you're going to sand the glue and part of the wood anyways. There's no way to know if you have to refinish them until you pull the carpet up.

 

[Gravesj1s]

Almost all flooring outlets / stores use subcontractors for the labor end of the sale. Agree what Nirvana said it will be unlikely the installer s used glue to put put the pad down, but not unheard of. It goes like this, Mostly they would use staplkes to adhere the padding,and if they used actual adhesive it would be under the seams & maybe the edges of the padding . It depends on a number of things .(i.e. if they didn't have staples or if they ran out during the install). Not going to matter much either way if your having your hardwoods redone professionaly.

-Steve