If you need to inspect underneath your carpet then you have no option to pull up the carpet back to get a proper look underneath.
The last thing you want to do is damage your carpet in the process, so let’s take a deep dive into a method you can use to pull your carpet up whilst keeping the carpet free from damage.
What To Consider Before Pulling Your Carpet Back
Before you jump straight into pulling your carpet back you need to prepare yourself, particularly in regard to the padding, as this is likely to be damaged during the process.
Let’s take a look at the factors to consider before pulling your carpet up.
Padding
Before you pull up your carpet you need to check what type of padding you have. Usually, carpet padding is stapled to the floor, which means if you want to look underneath it you’ll have to remove the staples and padding as well which can cause it to tear.
If you believe your padding will tear when you remove it then have some ready as a backup if you do need to replace it.
What Flooring You Have Underneath
Another thing to think about is the flooring underneath your carpet.
If you have wooden flooring then your carpet padding will most likely be stapled to it, which will lead to tears as previously mentioned.
If you have concrete below, then your padding will be glued to the floor. This can make it particularly difficult to lift your padding and will usually require you to replace it afterwards as the padding will likely rip when you remove it from the glue and floor.
You’ll also need to bring extra glue to secure the new padding into place.
How Much Area Do You Need To Pull Up?
When a carpet is fitted it is stretched into place.
This means if you need to pull up a large area of carpet then you can easily lose the stretch of your carpet which means it won’t fit back into place. You’ll either have to use a carpet kicker, or hire a professional, to re-stretch the carpet and fit it back into place.
Pulling your carpet up yourself is only worth it if you are pulling a small area of carpet up, as this can be done quite easily without causing damage.
How To Pull Up A Carpet Properly – Step By Step
Once you’re prepared yourself to tackle the padding underneath your carpet then you’re ready to begin to roll up the carpet.
Step One – Remove The Carpet From The Tack Strip
The vast majority of carpets are secured to the floor with a tack strip, which is a simple wooden slab with nails on it that are used to secure the carpet so that it doesn’t move.
Identity the corner of the carpet that you want to lift and use a set of pliers to grab the carpet near to the edge and being pulling up gradually.
Doing this gently is the key or your tack strip can also start to pull off the floor which will give you more headache as you will have to replace this before you fit the carpet back. The key is to pull in a couple of different areas in the same corner to remove the carpet slowly and over a larger area.
At this stage, you’ll see your carpet padding, which is cut smaller than the carpet to fit underneath between the tack strips.
Step Two – Inspect Beneath
If you only need to lift up a small area of your carpet you can simply follow step one, take a look under the carpet and then place the carpet back.
Make sure you use a board to place the carpet back onto the tack strip and apply pressure evenly, you don’t want one of the tacks to pierce through the surface and into your hand. Simply push the carpet gently using a board to secure it back into place on the strip.
If you need to remove the carpet padding then make sure to remove any staples first using our guide here. If your padding is secured with glue then a razor scraper can be used to scraper the floor which will remove the padding along with the glue.
Step Three – Put The Carpet Back In Place
If you’ve had to remove carpet padding then it can be difficult to fit new padding correctly, especially for beginners. We recommend that you seek professional help to get the padding fitted correctly, or you can attempt to staple or glue a section of padding back in place yourself.
This will usually only be worth it if you have had experience with fitting carpet padding beforehand.
Once you’ve put new padding back then you can simply use a board to push the carpet back onto the tack strip. If you haven’t lost the stretch in your carpet then you will have no issues putting the carpet back the same as it was before.
What If The Glue Is Stubborn?
Some carpet glues can be really difficult to remove, even if you use the sharpest of razor scrapers.
A good method to loosen the glue is to use either steam or boiling water on the glue to make it easier to remove. You can also buy a glue removing product at your local hardware store as well if you don’t mind spending a bit of money.
Final Thoughts
It’s actually quite easy to pull a carpet up and inspect the underneath, as long as you intend to keep the padding where it is and don’t plan to pull up a large surface area of carpet.
If you need to replace the padding, you might want to contact a professional who can make sure you get it fitted back properly. If you have any other questions relating to this topic then please contact us here!