Is it hard to remove a carpet yourself, or should i hire someone?? Im not really good at that type of thing but just wondering how hard it is. Would i need special equipment or soemthing? and how long would it take me? Thanks
It's very easy. Start at a corner then pull on the carpet. You may need to remove the underlay after you remove the carpet. It's done the same way. Then remove the staples that they used to hold the under lay done. Remove the wooden strips that go around the out side of the floor that held the carpet down Go for it. Nothing ventured nothing gained. All the tools needed are a ,hammer,and a skew driver to get under the wooden strips and the staples.
I have done ceramic tile for thirty years. Carpet comes up real easy. Most of the other answers are correct. Carpet is only held down by tack strips around the edge of the room. Pad is usually glued down with just a few runs of glue. You can buy a cheap four inch razor scraper at Home Depot to scrape the glue up. The tack strip you just use a hammer and a pry bar or screw driver to pop it up. Then it depends on what kind of flooring you are putting back down as to how well you have to scrape and clean your floor.
If you are not going to try and salvage the carpet, just get a razor knife and cut it up one section at a time, as much as you can handle. Once you start on one end, you can just raise up enough of the carpet to slice through and make sure you don*t cut the wood floor underneath; I*m assuming it is hardwood. You do not need any special equipment. Stop and start when ever you feel like it. 2 of us took out carpeting in a living room /dining room combo in about 8 hours. Trouble was it was full of cat pee from previous owners, and we had to keep running outside to breathe fresh air.
There may be a reason for the carpet in the first place...Try pulling up a corner and then pulling back to check the floor surface The surface may not be pretty to look at ..Are you considering redoing the floor surface...What ever you decide, if you pull the carpet you'll have to pull the tack strips. Again when pulling the carpet use a carpet or utility knive and cut it up in handlable segments. Good Luck
The only other thing you will need is a scraper/ putty knife to scrape up the spots where glue was used to hold down the pad. Most of them will just come right up. If you run into a stubborn one soak that spot with a little water and then try again. Most of the glue used is water based, so water will help loosen it. Overall it is not a very hard job, I stripped around 1000 sq. ft. in a couple of hours, not counting all the glue spots. Your biggest problem will be finding somewhere to put all the carpet until trash day. Go ahead and give it a shot.
