Easy Carpet Removal

Replacing your carpet with laminate, wood or new carpet requires the removal of the old carpet. Some installers charge a service fee to remove and haul away your old carpet in addition to the cost for installing the new flooring. It is easy to remove the old carpet on your own and save this additional cost. Check with your city or municipality to verify they allow garbage pickup of old carpet and what restrictions they may have.

Pliers (optional)
Utility knife
Duct tape or string

Instructions

- 1
  Pull up the carpet in one corner of the room. If you are not able to pull up the carpet by hand, use pliers to grab the carpet pile and pull it off the carpet tack strip.
- 2
  Pull the carpet from the carpet tack strips holding the carpet to the floor. Tack strips are thin boards with small sharp tacks pointing up through the board to hold the carpet backing. The strips are located along the walls and in some doorways.
- 3
  Cut the carpet into 4-foot strips, using a sharp utility-knife blade that will cut through the carpet pile and backing. Take care not to damage the floor beneath the carpet if you have hardwood floors.
- 4
  Roll up each piece of carpet and secure the roll with duct tape or string. Small bundles of carpet are less bulky, making the removal of the carpet less complicated.

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