Attached-Pad Carpet

• 1). Put on your work gloves and safety goggles.
  
  
• 2). Pull up a corner of the carpet by gripping the carpet with the needle-nose pliers and pulling up on it until the flap of carpet is large enough that you can comfortably grip it with your hand.
  
  
• 3). Grab the carpet flap with your hands, and continue pulling up on the carpet. Attached-pad carpet is usually secured to the floor with carpet glue, so you should not have to worry about tack strips. If there are tack strips, pull back on the carpet and shake it to help release the carpet from the tack strips.
  
  
• 4). Pull back on the carpet until you have loosened the carpet to the middle point of the room, and then lay it back down on the floor.
  
  
• 5). Go to the other side of the room and pull up the carpet in the same manner until you have loosened all of the carpet in the room. You now should have carpet that is lying flat on the floor but is not attached to the underlying subfloor or hardwood.
  
  
• 6). Cut the carpet with the utility knife. Try to keep it in 3-foot strips from one end of the room to the other.
  
  
• 7). Roll up each strip of carpet as tightly as you can, and tie each end with string or twine. Dispose of the carpet.
  
  

Carpet with a Separate Pad

• 1). Put your safety goggles over your eyes securely and place work gloves on your hands to protect them during the project.
  
  
• 2). Pull up on a corner of the carpet with needle-nose pliers. Pull up until the flap of carpet is large enough so you can grip it with your hand.
  
  
• 3). Grab the carpet flap and pull back, shaking it as you go to help dislodge it from the tack strip.
  
  
• 4). Work your way around the perimeter of the room until all edges of the carpet have been dislodged from the tack strip.
  
  
• 5). Lay the carpet flat with the edges flapped over so they do not come in contact with the tack strip.
  
  
• 6). Cut the carpet into 3-foot strips, and then roll the strips up. Tie the edges with twine or string. You can now dispose of the carpet.
  
  
• 7). Pull up a corner of the carpet pad using the needle-nose pliers.
  
  
• 8). Grab the flap of carpet pad and pull it back, going from one side of the room to the other. The pad may have been attached with glue, staples or both. Carpet pad does tear easily, so pull back slowly and carefully to try to keep the pad intact.
  
  
• 9). Cut the carpet pad into 3-foot strips. Roll and tie it up the same way you did with the carpet.
  
  
• 10
  
  Remove any staples in the floor from the pad by gripping the tips of the staples with the needle-nose pliers and twisting the pliers. The staples will easily release from the floor.