Lifting Carpet to pull pad. Removing the pad without damaging the Carpet is an essential part of Water Mitigation
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
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
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
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
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
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
7. Safety
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
