Pulling up carpets

[thewallisblue]

Anyone have any advice about pulling up carpets and revealing hard wood flooring? Any tips on how to do this - are there any firms who will do this for you?

Thanks!

Pulling it up is easy. Get a Stanley knife and cut it into strips, roll each one up and tape it with gaffer tape, stick in car boot and take to tip.
Repeat with underlay.
Get a crowbar and pull up gripper rods, take to tip.
Assess quality of floor underneath. I’ve sanded wood floors before with a hired machine, but it’s a hot and messy job so you can just hire someone to do that. You may need a carpenter if there are any horrors such as botched over hearths etc.
Is it an old house?

First of all make sure you do have a hardwood floor as once you start it may be difficult to relay.

Its quite easy to lift, work from one edge or corner with a screw driver to lift up a bit of the carpet. Once you've good a few inches just pull along the edge - a bit like a zip really.

The nuisance is getting rid of the carpet, I would cut it up with a Stanley knife into sections and roll each up, tie with string and take to the tip. Don't be tempted to cut it while its down as you may score the floor below.

Similarly with the underlay, if it old foam it is likely to crumble and get everywhere.

If there is gripper round the edge, just prise it up, I say just - it usually breaks into short pieces. Wear thick gloves the gripper is unforgiving.

Good luck.

Thanks! Really appreciate your advice. Yes I think it's a gripper we have - it's a wooden thing with spikes coming out of it, all the way around the edge of the room.

It's an old house - circa 1870. I'm not entirely sure if it is hardwood - I'll take a photo to see if anyone can tell.

Appreciate it's hard to tell from a photo, but what do you think?

Lovely floor there

Thanks @dancemom! I'm getting quite excited about it now. I had been planning on paying to get engineered flooring installed until I realised there was this underneath.

Looks like pine

Most floorboards are pine and from your photo I'd say that's what you've got. Pay someone to fill gaps, replace any damaged/cut boards and sand and finish. They'll take a fraction of the time it'll take you and they'll have all the equipment you'll have to hire.