Removing Carpet, Padding, and Tackless Strips
Occasionally, home improvement projects may require you to remove some of your carpeting. I've had to do this four times so far in my current house: in preparation for slate flooring, rubber flooring (for a home gym), and twice for built-in shelving projects. It is not a difficult task- just take your time and use the right tools.
First, remove the shoe molding and baseboards (if necessary). Depending on the circumstances, you may need to remove the molding. This was the case for my built-in shelving projects and my slate floor. In the case of the built-ins, I didn't require any base molding in that area because the shelves completely covered the area. Many times, however, you can leave the base molding in place and install the new flooring flush against the molding. Then, re-install the shoe molding to cover the edge of the flooring.
To remove the shoe molding, pry it away from the base molding with a putty knife or chisel. Shoe molding is usually attached to the base molding (not the floor) with small finishing nails, so it it not too difficult to pry away. To remove the base molding, you will first need to cut through the caulking where the top of the molding meets the drywall. A utility knife works best, but I also use a hook knife on occasion. Once you have cut through the caulking, gently pry the base molding away from the wall with the tools mentioned earlier. Once you've created a bit of space, you can use a pry bar and hammer to completely remove the molding. Cut, peel, and sand the remaining caulk from the drywall.
Next, cut the carpet using a carpet cutter, utility knife, or hook knife. Be conservative with your cutting, you can always remove more later. If you are remove a large quantity of carpet, cut it in sections to make it easier to roll and store or discard. If I need to cut a straight line across the carpet with a knife, I measure and draw a line on the underside of the carpet with a Sharpie pen- this helps me to stay on course with the knife. Once the carpet is up, remove the padding in a similar fashion. If the padding was stapled to the floor, you will need to remove each staple with needle-nose pliers.
Tackless strips are strips of wood that are covered with tacks designed to grab carpet and hold it in place. The strips are nailed or glued to the floor with the tacks (which are slightly angled) pointing towards the wall. The carpet installer pulls the carpet tight and pushes it down on the tackless strip, allowing the tacks to grab the carpet.
To remove the strips, I like to use the pry bar and/or a chisel and hammer. Once the strips have been removed, use the pry bar to pull any remaining nails. If the tackless strips were installed on concrete, removing the nails may pull up small chunks of concrete. You can spackle these holes with something like DryDex.
After sweeping or vacuuming the debris, you are ready to move to the next step of your home improvement project.
Jon
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[...] my gym to look authentic. However, this is probably the most expensive option. I had to tear out my carpet, order the rubber floor, and install it. I purchased my rubber flooring from Fitness Resource [...]