5 Tips for Removing Carpet from Your Home

Whether you’re getting rid of that outdated red shag carpet in the living room for something a bit more modern or your carpet has water damage from flooding, you might need to be removing carpet at some point as a homeowner. As far as renovating tasks, pulling up the carpet isn’t difficult to do, but it’s good to have an idea of what techniques and tools you need to use.

Have the Right Tools

Anytime you begin a renovation project you need to ensure that you have the right tools for the job. For getting that old carpet up, you’ll need the following items to do a safe and thorough job:

• Dust mask
• Gloves
• Knee pads
• Tape measure
• Pliers
• Carpet blade
• A cup or trash bag to put carpet staples in
• Hammer
• Crowbar

Be Careful with the Carpet Blade

Once you have all your tools ready, you need to know how to use them safely so that you don’t get injured. When using the carpet blade to cut the carpet, use both hands to ensure that you do not cut your  fingers or hand. Also be sure to  use protective gloves when working on any kind of home improvement project.

Start with the Corners

The first step in removing the carpet from a room is to start from the corners and work your way to the middle of the room. Put on your gloves, dust mask, and knee pads  and start tugging on a corner of carpet to see if it’s loose enough to just start pulling. If it’s not loosening up , cut a small square with your carpet blade to get it going.

Cut Carpet into Strips

After you’ve pulled the carpet back from the corners, you’ll start to have large portions of loose carpet. To make the removal more manageable, measure and cut the carpet into strips (about four feet) and toss them aside as you’re working.

Remove Carpet Pad, Staples and Tack Strips

Now that the carpet is gone, what you have left is the carpet padding and the tack strips. Pull up the padding starting in the corner (similar to as you did with the carpet), and cut it into strips, tossing them aside as needed. After you’re finished with the padding, you’ll need to remove the carpet staples with pliers. Have something ready to put the staples in so that you or someone else doesn’t step on them.

Once all the staples are dislodged, all that is left to contend with is the tack strips around the perimeter of the room. If you are replacing your old carpet with new, you may be able to leave some or all of them in place. Check for rusted or damaged strips and just pull those out. (The carpet installation professionals should be able to replace the damaged ones.)

However, if you plan on installing wood floors or tile flooring, you will need to remove the tack strips. Using a combination of a hammer and a crowbar should get them loose enough to pull off.

Call the Pros

Don’t have time to remove the carpet yourself? Jiffy Junk provides carpet removal services that are fast, easy, and affordable. We’ll remove carpet from stairs, basements, offices, and anywhere else you might need.

Call us at (844) 543-3966 for more information or click the Get Pricing button below.