Preparing To Install New Carpet
- By Aydan Corkern
- Published 11/13/2008
- Home
- Unrated
Many homes in the United States become flooded every year and the majority of the time this results in the need for serious restoration work, often including the replacement of upholstered furniture and carpets. Depending on the cause of the flood, though, you will need to do different things. Whether the cause of the flood is a natural disaster, a bathtub overflowing, or a puncture in a waterbed, though, get ready for some work.
While you may be able to save the carpet if the bathtub overflows, you may want to take this as a good opportunity to replace the padding underneath it with a thicker padding if what you currently have underneath is a bit thin. If it is caused by a natural disaster, then replacing the padding is an absolute must, since once it is contaminated with dirty flood water (which can contain chemicals, sewage, and a number of other nasty things), it cannot be cleaned. All padding does when you attempt to clean it is shred.
Once you have decided whether to remove your carpet completely, it will not be very hard. Take all of the furniture out of the room and if
the flooding was a natural disaster, you can count on throwing away or re-upholstering a lot of it. As with carpet padding, the padding inside most furniture cannot be cleaned once it has been submersed in flood water.
Taking the carpet up from the floor shouldn't be a big challenge; use a utility knife or a strong box cutter (forget the little plastic handled ones) to cut it up into strips; this will make it much easier to remove. The old tackless strips will need to be taken up, as well, but you need to leave about half an inch of space between the new ones and the wall. Make sure the tips of the tacks are toward the wall.
If the floor had sewage or trash on it from flood waters that came from outside your home, you will want to make sure and scrub the floors first before putting down any new carpet.
Taking the door to the room off its hinges may help make bringing the new carpet inside easier, but see if you can get the carpet inside without doing this first to save a little hassle. Having it installed professionally may be the best option, but installing carpet on your own is also an option if you are familiar with how to take appropriate measurements
While you may be able to save the carpet if the bathtub overflows, you may want to take this as a good opportunity to replace the padding underneath it with a thicker padding if what you currently have underneath is a bit thin. If it is caused by a natural disaster, then replacing the padding is an absolute must, since once it is contaminated with dirty flood water (which can contain chemicals, sewage, and a number of other nasty things), it cannot be cleaned. All padding does when you attempt to clean it is shred.
Once you have decided whether to remove your carpet completely, it will not be very hard. Take all of the furniture out of the room and if
Taking the carpet up from the floor shouldn't be a big challenge; use a utility knife or a strong box cutter (forget the little plastic handled ones) to cut it up into strips; this will make it much easier to remove. The old tackless strips will need to be taken up, as well, but you need to leave about half an inch of space between the new ones and the wall. Make sure the tips of the tacks are toward the wall.
If the floor had sewage or trash on it from flood waters that came from outside your home, you will want to make sure and scrub the floors first before putting down any new carpet.
Taking the door to the room off its hinges may help make bringing the new carpet inside easier, but see if you can get the carpet inside without doing this first to save a little hassle. Having it installed professionally may be the best option, but installing carpet on your own is also an option if you are familiar with how to take appropriate measurements
Aydan Corkern
Aydan Corkern is a writer of many topics, visit some of her sites, like water damage kansas city and the restoration express.
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