For now, I have carpet just lay on top of the the old low carpet that the mobile home came with. it is sort of quick fix so cleaning is easier and the walking feel better. Is it okay to do that? The old low carpet underneath is ugly and have dirty feel to it, but I don't know if I should pull it up and replace the floor with vinyl flooring? My kitchen came with the vinyl flooring so I figure it is okay to pull the old carpet up and install it? Also, I don;t know if I should really pull the old carpet up or not, since I have no experiment in this. please answer, thanks in advance
I would definitely remove the old carpet just because of the fact you said it feels dirty...carpet can collect all kinds of allergens and even make some people sick. Especially if there were pets in the house previously. For your health, remove the old carpet. As others suggested, there are options for you to lay the carpet w/ glue/tack strips. Also, Home Depot sometimes offers free carpet installation...you can see if you qualify.
Most mobile homes do not have quality carpeting. If you decide to remove it, start in a corner to make sure it isn't glued down instead of using tack strips. If glued, you will not have a quick fix.
Ok... now the real answer a little late. The trouble is they use these giant stapkes that are half in the room and half under the walls. Heres what to do... 1) using a razor knife and lots and lots of blades cut the carpet as best as you can right next to the walls around the room. 2) Remove the carpet and pad from the room. 3) Using a 45 degree angle grinder with the thin discs that cut metal... under cut the staples that are holding down whats left of the carpet and pad. 4) You will find that they were not stingy with these staples with the pad seams either. use the grider on them also. A full double wide will usually take about 10 grinder discs to get it done.
Placing one carpet over the top of another carpet allows the top carpet to move around when you walk on it, and wears the top carpet out quickly. The original carpet could be attached to the floor with carpet tack strips, glue or staples. If tack strips were used, it will be a quick change you can do yourself. If it was glued or stapled, you will have to pull it up and remove the staples. Mobile homes come with the carpet stapled to the floor, sometimes before the walls are built and the walls set on the carpet. If this is the case, you will need to take a utility razor knife and cut around the edges of the wall to pull the carpet up. If you have tack board around the edge of the room, you can reuse it. If you don't have tack board, you will have to instal it before you can instal new carpet. It is easy to do, after removing the old carpet, just go around the room with the tack board and nail it to the floor about 1/2 inch from the wall. Next lay new padding and staple it to the floor. Again, don't try to reuse the old padding, it will wear out the new carpet quickly. Attach the carpet over the tack strip on one side of the room by laying the carpet on the tack strip and then pushing down on the carpet with the head of a flat metal object. Once you have one side attached, stretch the carpet to the opposite side of the room and attach the carpet to the tack board. Then do one side and then the other side. If you are going to seam the carpets together where they meet in a door way, do that prior to attaching that side of the carpet to the tack board. Easy to do, just time consuming. You can purchase a carpet stretcher for around $20 at Harbor Freight Stores. You can get a utility razor knife for around $1. It comes with 3 spare blades, and when your blades get dull, it is cheaper to buy a new knife with 3 blades, than to purchase replacement blades.
