Can you believe that when our ranch house was built in 1977, they installed hardwoods and then carpet right on top? My contractor hubby Steve says that was common back then. We found out about the hardwood ages ago after I chose and paid for new carpet. When the installers arrived and started pulling up the old carpeting – voila! There it was. Darn it. Flash forward and it’s time for a new flooring option. So we decided to pull it all up and I am sharing how to remove carpet on top of hardwood floors in four steps.Making the decision to dive into this project was SO easy. One minute we were enjoying coffee on a lazy Sunday morning and the next minute we were yanking up carpet, padding, nailing strips, and staples. That night we were so sore and crabby, thinking we were just nuts. The bloom was off the excitement of our decision.At this point, two weeks after starting, we have the very long hallways and the den completed. The sobering part of this project at our home is that the floors are very orange-ish and have only a rough sanding sealer on top. Meaning that the newly-discovered floors require sanding and a sealer. Plus, to me, a color option that will tone down the red oak color. UGH!Steve spent hours sanding the floors with a heavy-duty sander and they look amazing. However, the whole house would take him forever! Now, he and I have determined that we will continue to remove the carpet in each room as we have time, then decide how to finish the floors later. Just moving the furniture to get to every inch of our rooms is daunting and our knees need a break after each room.We know we are going to love the final result and you will too if you have discovered hardwoods under your carpet. P.S. have you peeked yet? Just use pliers to pull up a corner of carpet inside a closet to see what you have. Fingers crossed it’s hardwoods.
Questions on this post
Have a question about this project?