Carpet Removal Tools

Safety Gear

• Most carpet installations have tack strips around the borders of the room. Tack strips are thin pieces of wood with sharp metal points on top. Installers stretch out the carpet and hook it on the tack strips to keep the carpet taut. To avoid pricking your hand on the sharp tacks, wear heavy-duty gloves. Also, wear safety glasses while prying up nails, staples or tack strips.

Utility Knife

• A utility knife has a retractable razor blade. To ease removal and disposal, use a utility knife to slice the carpet into manageable strips (about 3 to 4 feet wide). To prevent damage to wood flooring under the carpet, lift the carpet off the floor before slicing it with the utility knife.

Needle-Nose Pliers

• Carpet installers sometimes use staples to hold down the middle area of the carpet. To remove the staples, use needle-nose pliers (pliers with jaws that taper to a narrow point). Grab one end of the staple and roll the needle-nose pliers in order to twist out the staple. Don't just pull the staples out by force, or you will wear yourself out.

Claw Hammer and Pry Bar

• Use a pry bar to remove the tack strips around the borders of the room. Typically, you will have to work the tip of the pry bar into the gap under the tack strip, and then gently pry away the tack strip. If you have trouble fitting the pry bar into the gap, use a hammer to bash the nails that hold down the tack strip. This will force the nails in deeper and may raise the edge of the tack strip slightly. Remove any nails that stick out from the floor with the claw hammer.

Putty Knife

• If there is wood flooring that you wish to refinish underneath the carpet, use a thick putty knife to protect the flooring as you use your hammer, pry bar or needle-nose pliers to pry away staples, nails or tack strips.

Floor Scraper

• If the subfloor is concrete, installers sometimes use a special adhesive to hold down the carpet padding. Use a floor scraper to remove the dried adhesive and stubborn pieces of carpet padding that stick to the floor. A floor scraper is a long-handled tool with a flat blade. It is available at most retail hardware stores.