It?s time to jump up in joy since the time has finally come to remove your old carpet. You probably can?t look at it anymore or it may even produce funny smells. Well, the time comes for each carpet. After all, a carpet usually only lasts a decade. You might be lucky with a carpet of higher quality and enjoy it for up to two decades. However, carpets are prone to stains hard to remove. Once you start arranging your furniture in an odd way to hide stains, it?s certainly more than about time for a carpet removal. Click here to find professional and eco-friendly assistance in your area to practices for carpet removal.
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Before You Start Your Endeavor?
You can?t just start ripping out your carpet. Before you begin, it?s important to clear the entire room. Not a single item can be left standing on the carpet you intend to remove. Since it?s most likely going to imply quite some heavy lifting, you may want to ask a friend for help. At the same time, you?ll have to find a place where you can leave all of your furniture. Your home is most likely going to be cramped, but it?ll only be for a few days. Once the removal is done, you can put everything back to where it belongs. Or even opt for a redecoration. Remove any doors that are revolving into the room as well.?
As soon as you’ve cleared the room, it?s best to hoover it thoroughly. There will be a lot of dust that?s gathered underneath the carpet. You can certainly not hoover your carpet that vigorously to get rid of the dust underneath. However, hoovering before your start will greatly reduce the amount of dust and dirt coming up during the removal.
Select Eco-Friendly Tools
Truth be told, carpet removal is usually done with manual tools. There aren?t that many tools you?d need that require electricity. In fact, not even a professional removal service would use that much high-tech. The tools they use are mostly manually driven as well.
That being said, selecting eco-friendly tools is rather easy. Here?s a checklist of tools you will need for carpet removal:
- Plier
- Hammer?
- Pry bar
- Scraper
- Carpet knife
- Heavy-duty gloves
- Protection glasses
- Knee pads
- Dust mask
Depending on how your carpet has been attached to the floor, you may need an additional agent to remove glues. We?ll come to that point in a little bit, don?t worry.
You, Will, Need a Strong Back
Carpet removal is not an easy task at all. You will have to break quite some sweat and be careful not to break your back.
Removing the baseboards might still be rather easy. Carpet does fortunately hardly ever meet the walls directly. The baseboards are covering that little gap. Removing them allows you to pull up the carpet with a pry bar before you can just pull the carpet off the ground. Be careful not to damage the baseboards. You can or you definitely should re-use them once the new flooring has been put into place. It doesn?t only save you a lot of money to buy new ones. You?re using fewer materials when those you have are completely fine to use again. To have a completely unobstructed area, bring them into another room. (insiderlyfe.com)
Now that issue has been solved, let the carpet removal games begin! Of course, it?s not a game, but you can make it more fun for yourself than it actually is. Choose a corner where you?d like to start. The rule of thumb says to always start in the furthest corner. In fact, it doesn’t really matter, simply pick a corner. Pry up the carpet of that corner until you could lift up enough to use the pliers. Keep pulling until you can grab the carpet with your hands. Slowly stand up as you keep pulling. Cut the carpet into strips from the back to make it easier to handle.
Handle Sticky Glues
If your carpet only has nailed to the subfloor, it will still use up quite some strength. However, it?ll be difficult to keep pulling the carpet with stubborn glues that were used to attach it.?
While there are commercial glue removal agents available, most of them are not eco-friendly. Use a scraper to release the carpet from glue strips. Alternatively, you can use a mix of vinegar, baking soda, and water to apply. None of these ingredients are harmful to the environment. Should that not work either, you could use a heat gun. Make sure it?s an energy-efficient device and be careful not to set up the carpet in flames. It?d surely save you the trouble of how to dispose of the remains of your carpet removal. But you certainly don?t want to burn down your house.?
The Eco-Friendly Disposal
Congratulations! You?ve done it and torn out the carpet from your room. The only question that remains is how to dispose of it.
As a first option, you could reuse parts of it that still look nice. Use it as flooring in your children?s treehouse in the garden. Cut out some well-preserved pieces and use them as a doormat or area rug. Give your old carpet a second life on a tree scratcher for your cat.
There will still be remains that will give you a headache to figure out how to dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner. Don?t just bring the carpet to a landfill. It?s the least eco-friendly option. Ask a carpet removal service to pick it up who applies eco-friendly disposal methods. Most of them recycle carpets, but pay attention they?re mentioning it at least with a symbol. You can rest assured, your old carpet won?t add to the endless piles of a landfill.
Parting Words On Eco-Friendly Carpet Removal
Don?t forget you can always hire an eco-friendly disposal service, too. Save yourself the heavy-duty work. They might even be able to give you a hand clearing the room of heavy furniture.
