Removing Carpet

[GraemeCook]

I am not sure whether this should be under a flooring or a finishing thread - hope I guessed right.

Our home is 125 years old with polyurethaned Tas oak floors in good condition. About fifteen years ago a previous owner had fitted carpet installed. I do not know the name of the fitting system but it is strips of plywood with small nails pointing up that hook into the carpet.

We are thinking or removing the carpet but are unsure as to how much damage has been done to the floor by those plywood thingies. I preume that it will just require filling, light sanding and re-applying two or three coats of polyurethane. Remember the old stuff has been hidden by carpet for 15 years.

Has anyone had experience with this or can offer any constructive advice.

Thanks

Graeme

[Ben (TM)]

Hi Graeme,

The carpet grippers are only usually held on with small tacks, so should be easy enough to lever up with some care with a jimmy bar. You might like to use a piece of scrap to protect the floor when you are levering

[silentC]

Went through this in an old house with cypress pine flooring, which I imagine would be a lot softer than Tas Oak. The smooth edge (carpet gripper thingo you refer to) had been down a long time and the tacks had rusted, so most of them snapped off rather than pulling out. I guess you will have the same problem. So I went around on my hands and knees and removed the stumps with a pair of side cutters. Got most of them out but there were quite a few that wouldn't budge, or snapped off like a rotten tooth, so these ones I punched down under the surface of the flooring. On top of that, there was a layer of masonite under the carpet which had been stapled to the floor!

You will miss some, so be prepared for pin pricks, cuts and torn sandpaper. Not a job I enjoyed but the result is worth it.

[AlexJ66]

Graeme, I just went through this on the weekend myself as part of gutting one of our bedrooms and the hallway. It was one of the worst jobs I have ever done :(

As the others have said, these strips are held down by rather small tacks. I levered the strips up with a small jimmy bar but nearly all of the tacks broke through and had to be removed by hammer. I reckon I pricked my fingers on every one of those damn little nails that stick up :eek:

Luckily none of them were rusted and broke off though :)

Cheers,

Kev

[Bluegum]

I recently ripped up carpet here at home and our floor boards are T&G ironbark. Removing the strips caused very little damage to the flooring itself. It should have only take a light sand to clean them up prior to polishing them.

[Larry McCully]

when we remove those thingies with all those sharp teeth that bit you every time, we use a small jimmy bar. we place it at the nail point. tap the bar and normally the gripper lets go at that point. we then go the next nail and do the same , buy the time you have done that along the gripper it is off and in one piece. We normally have some of the underlay to wrap them up in and discard them to the pit where they belong. They normally come out easy on softwoods and most hardwoods, we then putty up the holes during the sanding process.lay the bar so that it lays flat on the floor and allow the tip to slide in between the grip and the floor, do not chisel into the floor. the tip when it slidedes inbetween hits the nail and jars it out. You aim for the nail as if you want to hit it. not beside the nail and lever up, this only breaks the timber strip and the nail stays.

[macca2]

I need to remove carpet and the smooth edge from a concrete floor.
How are they attached to the concrete, and what are the pit falls
macca

[GraemeCook]

Thanks everyone for the advice and warnings.

I have now been correctly reminded that those thingies are quite vicious and are properly called smooth edge.

I will try Larry's method of whacking against the securing tacks and see if I can get them out with no damage to the floor. Tas oak that's been air drying for 125 years is pretty tough so hopefully all wii go well.

Thanks again

Graeme