Projects carpet tack removal

Getting rid of a bazillion tacks
People who lay carpet for a living must derive some sort of (perverse) pleasure in using as many tacks as humanly possible to hold down your rug and pad. I suppose all those tacks are needed, but they are sure a pain to remove when a carpet is retired.

After the carpet and pad are removed, you face the task of carefully pulling up the tack strip. This nasty device is used to hold your rug in place and is located at every edge of the room. I say "nasty" because even though they do a great job in holding the carpet, they become angry sharp toothed writhing snakes when being removed.

In the picture you see that the new owner of the 1924 home has placed a soft, thin wood strip on the floor. He then carefully placed a flat bar under the end of the tack strip and lifted it up a bit. He now can slide the flat bar along the thin protective wood strip while gently prying up the tack strip. Take your time. Do not rush this process. Notice that his right hand is covering up the other end of the flat bar. That part is curved and has a fairly sharp edge. Putting your hand (gloved I hope) over this end of the bar protects your newly uncovered wooden floor. Yes, I learned this the big time hard way.

The next picture shows you all the staples left behind when the padding is removed. From the pattern, I would guess the carpet person was about 5'9", 175 lbs, and a lover of rum.

Each of these bubbas has to be removed very carefully. By the way, when sweeping the floor after removing the pad, do NOT sweep clean the staples. Leave a little bit of pad so you can find each one easily. Trust me, finding left behind staples with you bare feet is.....unpleasant.

You could use a pair of pliers and simply yank each staple out. I have found though that many of the staples have become almost "one" with the floor. They take extra effort to remove.

Here you see another thin, soft piece of wood placed on the floor first. A pair of vise grips have been turned over so that the curve of the pliers can rock on the wood piece. I adjust the pliers so they clamp onto the tack, lock in place, then roll the pliers onto the wood piece to pull out the

staple. Most of the time, the pliers never touch your wooden floor.

This method does not always work. Sometimes I have had to use a cutter to slice through the middle of the staple, then use a thin knife blade to pry up each half. Then I go back to the vise grips as above.

No matter what method you use, get all those tacks and staples out of the floor. Most holes left behind will be too small to worry about. They are the reason that throw rugs exist.

Sometimes you just cannot get a grip on a small tack. It is simply too close to the surface. In those cases, I use a pair of cutters (Dad called them "nippers") to first cut through the middle of the staple. Then, I slip a very thin knife blade under each section to lift. As you see in the picture, you can also (sometimes) use the nippers to gently pry up the cut ends. Vise grips will now easily work again.