How To Remove Wall-To-Wall Carpeting And Save The Floor Underneath 

Glad it was helpful!

Glad it was helpful!

Glad it was helpful!

I appreciate that!

Yeah, carpet installers love their staples!

That's great to hear, I'm glad it was helpful!

Glad it was helpful!

Glad it was helpful!

Good luck!

Glad it helped!

Actually, there will be two others related to this and another bedroom I was doing at the same time. They'll be out in the next few weeks!

Glad it was helpful!

Knowledge is power!

Much appreciated!

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is just remove what has been done before!

With an approach like that I would be careful of two things. One, damage to the finish, despite your luck so far. And, two, greater likelihood of flying wood or nails due to the greater leverage. Personally, I like to have tight control of the strip removal and precise placement of the flat bar.

I'm not certain I follow your description--do you mean that there was originally a plank subfloor over the joists, and then finish flooring over that? And then somebody added a plywood layer and carpeting over that original finish floor? That would be an odd choice to make just to put down carpeting, unless maybe they had an issue with floor height between rooms. Anyway, if that's the case then the nails or screws to hold down the plywood over the original finish flooring probably did a number on it. Or, maybe the original finish flooring was not in great shape anyway. There's only one way to find out...

@@enduringcharm yeah it will be interesting when we pull that carpet out and see what's underneath! I've only seen a cross section where I can see multiple layers of flooring- but there is definitely something in between the plywood and the subfloor 🤔

Without a picture it's tough to know, but it could be that there was linoleum glued down at one point and you are looking at the old adhesive. In other words, somebody pulled up linoleum which was glued down and then decided it was too much work to go further, and they put down carpet instead. Just a guess. Before you go sanding, try using a putty knife to see if it scrapes up. And try leaving some solvent on a small area to see if the black stuff melts a little bit, sort of like tar. You can use mineral spirits, turpentine or almost any petroleum based product. If the stuff melts or becomes gooey, you probably don't want to sand it. The sanding will heat up the adhesive and make a mess of the floor.

It's likely tar paper.

I'm going to assume that your flooring is oak? That species is particularly reactive to the ammonia in urine. Most likely all you can do is have the floors sanded and hope that you can go deep enough to remove the stain. Otherwise you'll have to replace the damaged boards and sand the whole room.

If the tack strips are in good shape you can reuse them. The carpet installers may replace any that they find marginal or add some of necessary.

Most likely you will find a taped seam at the doorway, which may be a good spot to make your transition. Either way, you can put a straight edge down in the doorway and cut with a utility knife to get a clean edge. I would sneak up on it by removing the carpet in the room first, making a cut still inside the room a few inches or more from the doorway. Then you'll be able to see how best to make the final cut at the doorway. Once you make the final cut, you can use a metal or wood transition strip to hold down the cut carpet. You'll find them in your box store.

@@enduringcharm Would I have to cut a inch from the door in my hobby room?

If you are keeping the same door then presumably it was already cut to accommodate the carpet. The transition strip usually compresses the carpet slightly, so I would not expect you would need to cut the door any shorter.

You mean urine stains in the wood underneath? There's nothing you can do but sand it down and hope it doesn't go too deep. With oak, especially, the ammonia in urine can leave permanent stains.

@@enduringcharm thank you for the reply. That is what I was thinking😔

It will be the same, except for one obvious thing--you'll find a concrete slab underneath rather than hardwood flooring! There will still be a pad under the carpet but the pad may be glued to the concrete slab. There will still be tack strips around the perimeter, and they can be removed basically the same way as shown in the video. If you have a concrete slab there are more options today than just putting more carpet back down. Floating "engineered" flooring can give you a hardwood look if you like. There are various manufacturers and styles, but they all basically click or snap together in some fashion and are installed "floating" over a thin mat or cushion. A prefinished layer of real wood is the top layer of what amounts to plywood strips. There are also laminates made in similar manner which snap together. Of course, you can also install porcelain or ceramic tile over the slab as well.

I just prefer not to have to have to swing the door back and forth as I remove the carpet, the padding and the tack strips. Plus, the backing of the carpet can act like sandpaper and strip the paint right off the door if it gets caught. If you can't remove the door for some reason you can work around it, but it can be annoying.

@@enduringcharm Thanks for your response, I'm about to rip the carpet out of a bedroom and I was tossing up whether or not to remove the door. It looks a little too technical for me 😄

Urine has ammonia in it, and ammonia reacts with oak to create a dark, black stain. If you have oak flooring expect a stain under the area.

@@enduringcharm New carpet will be going down asap. It's a very small room just barely enough to fit a single bed and my desk where i work so i won't have much downtime. I wonder if i need to treat the floor under the carpet with anything or if most of the smell will be in the carpet and the back. This only happened maybe 3 days ago i estimate.

Probably you can just use household cleaners and you'll be fine.

@@enduringcharm will try soaking in enzyme based stuff for 24 hours first probably. First gotta get the carpet out tomorrow and see what's happened under there.