Tearing Up Old Carpet

Use pliers to grab the carpet and pull it away from the subfloor.

Tearing up old carpet.

If you reveal a carpet padding beneath keep it in place for now we ll tackle that later on. Just grab the carpet with pliers and pull. Pull back the carpeting until the entire rug can be rolled up removed from your home and placed in a dumpster. To detach the carpet from the tack strip that holds the carpet in place along walls start in a corner.

Pull up and dispose of the foam padding. Use a utility knife with a sharp new blade to cut through the carpet backing. Then grab the carpet by hand and continue to pull it up along an entire wall. Fold the carpet over for easy cutting and slice it into narrow strips.

This equals 48 to 72 per hour because it usually takes 3 hours to remove carpet from a 12 by 12 foot room including extracting the tack strips and staples. Continue pulling up carpet a few feet at a time and cutting it into easy to handle strips. If you are trying to salvage the floor underneath make sure you do not cut grooves in the floor with the knife. Use a utility knife or carpet knife to slice the carpet into manageable strips and roll the strips up as you go.

Continue pulling until you ve separated the carpet entirely from one wall. Keep both hands on the knife to avoid cutting a free hand. Roll or fold the strip secure with duct tape and remove it from the room. Go to a corner of your carpeting and run a standard screwdriver between the edge of the wall and carpet.

Pry up the carpet from the tacking strips underneath. If the pliers aren t cutting it you can also use a small crow bar to pry it back. Pull up a few feet of carpet and fold it over. Carpet removal costs 1 to 1 50 per square foot including labor cleanup and waste disposal.

The average hourly rate is 60 per hour so expect to pay 180 in total for a contractor to remove and dispose of 12 by.