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Just wanted to say thanks! Still not sure what we will do, but it seems like it wouldn't be too bad and we're both reasonably handy so we may do it ourselves. I do have a couple more questions for anyone who may have input:
- Would you suggest painting before or after pulling up the carpet? I thought before, since we could spill on the carpet & it wouldn't matter, but then someone told me after would be better because of all the dust & crud that will come up when we pull up the carpet.
- Someone also mentioned that homes built in the 50s are likely to have hardwood in the bedrooms but not necessarily in the living room. The only place the inspector pulled up the carpet was a corner in one of the bedrooms. Has anyone had this experience? Since we won't be moving in for awhile we won't know, and I don't think the current homeowner would know how to check, admittedly it's a simple thing but I get think it's an estate and the people don't even live there to check really quickly. Since we'll be buying either way I guess it's not a huge thing, I am just wondering about the likelihood so I can plan ahead, perhaps we would do carpet in the living room if that turns out to be the case...
Thanks again!
i suggest paint after taking up the carpet. I did the opposite and well once I pulled up the carpet i found out I had to redo the floor trim around the entire room because the carpet "covered up" a small portion of it. live and learn.
i live in a 1950s ranch in MA and my living room has original hardwoods. it wasn't carpeted when i bought the house though (just the bedrooms). i've always been under the impression that older homes (like ones built in the 50s) had hardwoods throughout (except kitchen and baths).
I'm a home improvement guy, this is a easy job a DIY can do.
Pull the carpet up at one end roll it back, cut it with a box knife using the carpet under it as a guard for the floor. Cut it into manageable sizes. Pull the padding up, should have about 1000 staples in it. Use a 5 in 1 tool to pop them up and pull out with pliers, pop the tack strip up with a molding tool. Depending on the size of the room should take more than a half a day.
Clean floor with a mild detergent (Murphy's Oil Soap leaves a residue) and polish with paste wax and a auto buffer it you haven't got an upright, another half day.
DONE ... beautiful floor.
I'd agree totally. They have to rip up carpet without damaging the subfloor (wood floor) in their case, then dispose of the padding and tacky strip. I had to rip up broadloom glued down over VCT without ripping up the VCT. That was less than fun.
I could have used your help on this one:
PS. I hope the humidity is high for you. Those static shocks can be nasty once you start rolling up the carpet and pad. Keep your car keys handy if you get shocked touching door knobs.
I'd agree totally. They have to rip up carpet without damaging the subfloor (wood floor) in their case, then dispose of the padding and tacky strip. I had to rip up broadloom glued down over VCT without ripping up the VCT. That was less than fun.
I could have used your help on this one:
PS. I hope the humidity is high for you. Those static shocks can be nasty once you start rolling up the carpet and pad. Keep your car keys handy if you get shocked touching door knobs.
What material is that last picture? Cork? I love the way it looks.
ESD Conductive (2.5E04 to 1Meg Ohm) solid vinyl (12" x 12" x 1/8") with one part conductive adhesive system laid over the existing VCT. The room was an IT room for a paper mill.
It's not exactly a residential application. You can do this with any tile however. If I can do it, you can do it. Just snap your chalk line and put your corners right on the line and stagger white with blue. The hard part is the cut-ins and the door jams. Note that you have pentagon shaped pieces against the wall with two little triangles on each end. Pain in the ...
PS: I hope they have a lot of furniture in this room because it kinda gave me a headache.
Last edited by McGowdog; 06-25-2007 at 03:10 PM..
Reason: PS
ESD Conductive (2.5E04 to 1Meg Ohm) solid vinyl (12" x 12" x 1/8") with one part conductive adhesive system laid over the existing VCT. The room was an IT room for a paper mill.
It's not exactly a residential application. You can do this with any tile however. If I can do it, you can do it. Just snap your chalk line and put your corners right on the line and stagger white with blue. The hard part is the cut-ins and the door jams. Note that you have pentagon shaped pieces against the wall with two little triangles on each end. Pain in the ...
PS: I hope they have a lot of furniture in this room because it kinda gave me a headache.
You might know this but for those that don't, on the door jam use a jam saw and cut the jam away the height of the tile, hardwood, cork .. whatever. Slide it under and wha-la nice clean look.
OH nice tile job ... I lay a lot on the angle make the room look larger. I just finished a 1"X1" B/W tile ... thought I was going to have brain damage ... far to busy for me. In the end it's all green. LOL
If you do this a lot like a contractor (me) Bosch make a great power jam saw, other wise you can by a decent hand jam saw for about $20.00 ... money well spent.
Here's a trick too ... a grinder with a cut off wheel works in a pitch, it will smoke the wood like it going to catch fire. It's not as it only takes a few seconds to cut and the smoke will go away. I only recommend using this method if you know how to control a grinder other wise you could make a mess of things.
My house was built in 1977-78. The old carpet is freyed in the hallway at the entrance to the kitchen so I lifted and cleaned underneath. Its clearly hard wood there because it shined just to lightly rub it. But when I pulled up the carpet corners in the livingroom and at the other end of the hall I found a different type of wood thats painted white.
Pulling up the carpet and tack strips is extremely easy, but you will cut yourself.
Pulling out all of the tacks or staples is extremely time consuming, but very easy. Screening or refinishing the floors is hard. That is when you want a professional. Find someone who really knows wood floors, not just a general or handyman who sometimes refinishes floors. Often a screen and coat is all that you need.
Pulling up the carpet and tack strips is extremely easy, but you will cut yourself.
How about if you're pulling up carpet that's glued to the slab?
I'd agree that if you've got tack strips, it's easy. Then you can use your wonder bar to carefully pop up the tacky strip and if you put that stuff out with the garbage, someone will take the used stuff off your hands for free!
As far as floating the floor, cementitious self-leveling floor patch mixed with the right amount of water and latex and an 18" Marshalltown trowel...piece of cake. With a little practice.
If you're going to have the hardwood refinished anyway you might as well let the hardwood floor guys deal with the mess - it's usually included in the bid and they they take care of haul away. I'd recommend painting after the carpet is gone and before the floors are refinished. They'll likely need sanding after the carpet is pulled anyway and any reasonable flooring company can schedule removal and prep and give you a couple of days to paint prior to refinishing/installation.
Make sure you can communicate with the actual people who are doing the work,
MANY companies, these days, subcontract to non-english speaking people and it will be a headache if you can't talk to them AND if they can't understand you.
Make sure there is a person who speaks English, during the work AT ALL TIME !
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carpet demolition
