Lift Carpet and Pull Pad/Tack Strip
Lifting Carpet to pull pad. Removing the pad without damaging the Carpet is an essential part of Water Mitigation
Step 1: Assess and prep the affected area
Asses the Area and Prep:
- In the affected area make sure to move furniture out of the way
- Place floor covering on the areas surrounding the affected area
- Place all tools and garbage bags needed in the area before starting
Step 2: Gather required tools
- Shovel
- Floor Scraper
- Hammer
- Screwdriver
- Crow bar
- Pliers
- Utility Knife
- Heavy Work Gloves
- Bandages- It is very common to poke your finger with the tack strip
Step 3: Work safely
Safety is important when removing Carpet Pad and Tack Strips
- Where heavy work Gloves to prevent the tack strip from poking your fingers
- Use 3ml or higher Garbage bags to place the Tack strips in
- Where work boots to keep any nails/Staples from penetrating your foot
Step 4: Pull Carpet back
Start in a corner,
- first try to pinch the carpet and see if it will pull up easy.
- If not, carefully use the pliers in the corner and grab the fibers.
- Pull it just enough to switch to using your hand.
- Very slowly, pull the carpet back off the tack strip
- Loosely fold back to open the area of affected pad to remove
- NOTE: Keep the carpet from hitting the wall, as the backing can scratch the paint
Step 5: Remove carpet pad - if necessary
Once the carpet is pulled back from the affected area follow these steps to remove Carpet pad
- Use the Utility Knife to score(cut) the pad where you want it removed
- Pull the carpet pad back and discard
- On Wood Sub floors use a Pry Bar, screwdriver, or pliers to Remove any staples and discard the remaining Pad stuck under the staples
- On Concrete Floors you will need a floor scraper to remove the pad held by the glue used to hold it to the concrete
Step 6: Remove Tack Strip
Once the carpet pad is removed you will need to remove the tack strip:
- Use the hammer and pry bar to lift up the nails holding the tack strip and pull up to remove
- For larger areas you can use a shovel to achieve this(Be very careful not to hit the walls- Take your time
Extra tips for concrete surfaces
- To remove the nails- tap and jiggle(slide the prybar under and hit sideways)
- Glue down Tack Strip?
- Try using a Putty knife, wrap it in a cloth towel and try scraping off the residue under the tack strip. The terry cloth will help protect the tile surface.
Keep the tack strips in a pile and carefully place in a garbage bag one piece at a time to avoid cutting yourself
Step 7: Untitled Step
May need to place some Safety Cones if the area the Pad is removed is in a traffic area
- Make sure the floor is free of staples or nails
- Lay carpet back down( make sure there are no creases in the carpet
- Make sure the area is safe- Place Safety Cones if needed
