Doing Your Own Tear-Out

The process of removing the old carpet and pad is referred to as the ‘tear-out.’ For smaller jobs you can save some money (labor & dump fee) and ensure that the job gets done right by doing the tear-out yourself. Even for big tear-outs you can save a lot of money by doing the labor.

Here’s how to do your own ‘tear-out’

Supplies: knee pads, dust mask, pliers, broom & dustpan, wastebasket, trash bags, shop vac or vacuum cleaner, quality utility knife.

Stanley^® utility knife, available at most hardware stores. Respect this tool. Keep the back end low and replace the blades as soon as they begin to get dull. Don't work if you're tired.

1. Although you can shuffle furniture during the tear-out, it’s best to totally remove as much furniture as possible to a separate area.

2. Cover things like furniture and fish tanks with bed sheets to prevent dust from settling on them. Keep children & pets out of the work area.

3. Vacuum the carpet to be removed so as to minimize airborne dust. It’s also a good idea to first walk along the perimeter of the rooms and sweep the dust loose that has collected along the edges.

4. Next, walk along the perimeter of each room and pull the carpet loose by jerking up on the carpet yarns with a pair of pliers.

5. Cut your carpet into manageable squares. Cut from the top like you are slicing a big dish of fudge brownies. Don’t cut so deeply that you cut the pad. You might slice the sub floor which could be hardwood or vinyl. For carpet under transition strips and thresholds, just cut around them. The installer can handle these areas.

Cutting carpet into manageable sections

6. Roll-up each section of carpet & pad and wrap with duct tape. Store in a dry place near your dumpster and every week say goodbye to another piece.

7. Cleanup:
- Leave the tack strips right where they are. Just tell everybody to watch out for them. No bare feet.
- Remove protruding staples and chunks of padding with pliers or just hammer them down flat if you’re never going back to that surface as your primary floor.
- Sweep up the big stuff as you go. Be sure to clear the gap with a small broom and shopvac.
- Vacuum last. Vacuum once all the big pieces have been picked up.

Jerk the carpet up off tack strips with pliers

Pull staples or hammer them down

...or hammer & pry them loose

Mom, make sure it all gets swept up.

Result: You’ll know if you did a good job if your installers smile when they see your work. They’ll probably work a little harder and focus a little more on your details knowing that you did what you could to help. Do a sloppy job and so will they.

Recycling: There’s a push towards recycling carpet & padding so before you cut it up, consider recycling it
- Some retailers will take it (pad) off your hands or help you find a recycler.
- Search yellow pages for reuse outlets: Carpet - Used or Building materials - Used
- Link: http://www.carpetrecovery.org/recovery/index.asp