Hardwood flooring makes a welcome addition to any home but it can be daunting to deal with once it s time to remove or replace it.
Taking up carpet from hardwood floors.
While it pays to work slowly to remove the carpet whether it was secured with adhesive a tack strip and staples or both it s understandable to feel a growing sense of anticipation before you lay eyes on the floor for the first time.
Utility knife for cutting up carpet and or padding into more manageable size strips for rolling up and removing from the room.
Once the carpet is up it is not going to be very pretty.
Or are you planning a project of your own.
Not only will it help to loosen any extra dirt and grime but in the event that you also missed a little bit of adhesive the hot steam from the mop will help to loosen the material so it can be.
It s a project for an optimist if there ever was one.
Tools for restoring hardwood floors under carpet.
Remove the carpet tacking strips which may be nailed or stapled to the hardwood floor.
Use a utility knife or carpet knife to slice the carpet into manageable strips and roll the strips up as you go.
Dispose of tacking strips and any staples or nails that held the strips in place.
The next step would be to refinish your floors but before you can do this you need to sand them to remove any scuff marks left by the carpet or by your cleaning.
Use your standard screwdriver to pry them from the floor.
You don t want to cause any damage to your floor by ripping up the carpet hard and fast.
The home stretch refinishing after sanding your floors you should plug any holes caused by nails by filling them with wood plugs or wood paste a combination of saw dust and white.
Carpet padding strips staples nails glue.
An even better option when it comes to getting your floors clean after removing carpet is to opt for a hardwood steam cleaner.
But take it from the experienced pros who have.
If you are trying to salvage the floor underneath make sure you do not cut grooves in the floor with the knife.
Have you tried restoring hardwood floors under carpet.
Even though you are probably eager and excited to finally see your hardwood floors underneath please push down your excitement and take this step slow.
Prybar for pulling up the carpet tack strips.
One way to do this is to lift the carpet away from the floor as you cut.
Removing carpet to expose the wood floor underneath.
Start by pulling up the carpet.