Tearing Up Old Carpet

Go to a corner of your carpeting and run a standard screwdriver between the edge of the wall and carpet.

Tearing up old carpet.

One way to do this is to lift the carpet away from the floor as you cut. If you reveal a carpet padding beneath keep it in place for now we ll tackle that later on. To detach the carpet from the tack strip that holds the carpet in place along walls start in a corner. If the pliers aren t cutting it you can also use a small crow bar to pry it back.

Pull up and dispose of the foam padding. Use pliers to grab the carpet and pull it away from the subfloor. If you are trying to salvage the floor underneath make sure you do not cut grooves in the floor with the knife. The average hourly rate is 60 per hour so expect to pay 180 in total for a contractor to remove and dispose of 12 by.

Pull up a few feet of carpet and fold it over. Continue pulling up carpet a few feet at a time and cutting it into easy to handle strips. Use a utility knife with a sharp new blade to cut through the carpet backing. Pull back the carpeting until the entire rug can be rolled up removed from your home and placed in a dumpster.

Roll or fold the strip secure with duct tape and remove it from the room. Continue pulling until you ve separated the carpet entirely from one wall. Pry up the carpet from the tacking strips underneath. Fold the carpet over for easy cutting and slice it into narrow strips.

After you ve rolled up the old carpeting and removed it from the room you ll finally get a good look at the subfloor and any surprise damage that the carpet may have been hiding. Roll up the strips and tape them for easy handling. Just grab the carpet with pliers and pull. Then grab the carpet by hand and continue to pull it up along an entire wall.

Keep both hands on the knife to avoid cutting a free hand.