Rehab (House): Carpet toss

My husband was kind enough to pull together tools for my daughter and I, though he was clearly dubious. Our tool bucket (that my husband called a North Carolina tool box) was chock full of useful stuff.  You can see a similar item pictured right.


We decided that nothing could harness our girl power enthusiasm.  Off we went.There is so much to do, it was hard to know just where to start.  Cleaning the bathroom was the first imperative for obvious reasons. Refrigerator the second imperative.  I didn't quite finish the refrigerator; but the downstairs bathroom received a good scrubbing.  We aren't done there yet either.  Yep.  It is that bad.

One of my goals was to see what was underneath the carpet on the stairs.  The home has linoleum and carpet except for about 10 sqf of tile in the downstairs bathroom.  My tool to get started on this job was a linoleum knife pictured left.  It is a terrible looking thing.  I don't watch slasher movies, but I suppose if I did, this would be a central implement to such an evil doer.

In my hands, it worked pretty effectively to cut carpet from the stairs.  I was extra careful, as it is a tool that will lay you open.  I reminded my daughter that we needed to be careful to not over tire ourselves as that is the surest way to be injured.  I only cut my fingers in the kitchen when I'm dog-boned tired--and I'm efficient with knives--but not a linoleum knife.

The needle nose pliers helped  get some bite on the carpet.  Once I got going, I made pretty good progress.  First the carpet, then the padding.  The amount of dirt underneath the carpet was a reminder as to why I do not and never will have carpet in my house.  It is a dirt trap.  I captured two dust pans full of dirt just from the first 4 steps.  Makes sense as the dirt would fall on the first steps....shoes would be clean by step 4.

Having never had carpet, the carpet tack strips were something new to handle.  The bottom less bucket of tools had just the thing:  a Wonder Bar.  In case you are unfamiliar with this tool, here it is. . .

A Wonder Bar and a hammer are a beautiful thing together.  I wished I had some ear protection though!  I was able to pull up the tack strips by setting the 90 degree end against the stripping.  A small whack to set followed by a larger whack of the hammer and then a pry eased the strip up.   The strips were very dessicated and many splintered.  I would suggest using eye protection.  My husband called from Lowes and I asked him to bring Hannah and I some safety glasses.  Dirt and metal are two of many things that are not eye friendly. As with most things that are new to you, there is some experimenting and a learning curve.  I did learn quickly that hitting the back end of your hand on the tack strip is uncomfortable.  Best to be careful on your pry bar positioning when prying out other nails where such strips are nearby. Other than a stick on a knuckle and a pinch of skin that I managed to whack with the hammer, I left with all of my digits and eyes intact. 

I had to remind my daughter (a teacher) that we are so unused to working with stuff that we needed to take care to think of the safety consequences of what we were doing.  She was intent on pulling staples out of the stair tread.  I asked her where she thought the staples were going to go as I was working below her.  Oh.  We now have our sporty safety glasses...but we still need to ensure that we exercise good sense.

Husbando came in later to check on us and bring us our safety glasses.  He was surprised at our progress but also quipped that "that stuff came up easily".  We were still proud of our work.  I would show you pictures of some of the stuff that we took out, but I left the camera. 

My daughter and I are pleasantly sore.  My hands are sore from gripping the hammer and the wonder bar, and I was careful to take care of my back.  How satisfying it was to see so quickly the results of our work and not require any medical attention.  Next installment....pictures....