Urgent : Changing from carpet to floor board in bedroom - advise please

Hi Guys,

Due to some dust mite allergy the ENT specialist has asked us to get rid of carpets in our bedrooms. Carpet is about ~10-15 years old. We have floor board in rest of the house (single storey house).

I tried to rip off the corner of carpet from one of the bedroom and I see same floor board as rest of the house. Attaching pic :Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Is it safe to just rip off all carpet ourself and use the existing floor board as it is?
Or do we need to do anything else (eg polishing the floor board etc?)?

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

Yes, its safe and fairly simple to rip up carpet. Though probably not for the person in your family with the allergy.

Just use a stanley knife to cut it up and then roll it up similar to what you've already done in the corner there. Cutting it up first makes it easier to carry outside as its quite heavy if you try to roll up the whole thing and take it out (have done it!).

Then, use the back of a hammer, or a crowbar, to pry up the 'smooth edge', ie the little timber bits the carpet is attached to around the edges.

In most cases its probably fine to use like that. Or you can get someone to sand it and polish it. It'll look better and you'll get more life out of it.

 

Thanks a lot for your quick feedback.
I am also concern if we try to rip it off and if there is any issue underneath then we will be in state to find some tradie in urgency to fix it? which may cost us extra.

Given the state that we have the carpet rooms in perfect state ( not with age of carpet ) do you think there could be any issue underneath?

 

No way of knowing that without looking.

Carpet that old is a risk in its own, I wouldnt allow it in a property. Especially if someone there is allergic.

 

@SteffS, they look like nice floorboards. You night want to polish and varnish them (tip - go matt) - take out the carpets first though and see how they look.

 

If you are that way inclined then it is easy enough to hire the machines DIY. Did a 4 x 2 with tassie oak once and sanded it back and coated it as well. Came up a treat imo. Sweat equity was my friend at the time.

 

Floorboards will look so much nicer too

 

The boards look like they may already be polished - looking at the bit under the carpet.

I wouldn't use a Stanley knife - too easy to cut the boards. Just grasp the carpet firmly and pull it off the edges - then roll it up tightly and carry it out.

If you must cut in the room, then pull it off the edges first, roll it up partway, then put something underneath before cutting to protect the floor.

Then roll the next bit, protect the floor and cut...

 

Yeah, those boards are in great condition. Edit: oh, I was looking at the photo of th elounge room.
Thing about carpet though is that you're left with little bits of rubber and sand and nails and staples and stuff left over. You'll have to give the floor an extremely good vacuum and check for sharp things.
With a baby in the house, I wouldn't go polishing and treating floorboards for a while yet. I reckon they'll be fine for a while. And yeah, maybe they've already been treated in some way anyway?

 

Thanks guys, I took carpet from one of the room and floorboard looks good.
Just did floor clean and polish (got some liquids from bunnings)

Unfortunately, the built in robe in that room was setup after carpet so I could not take the carpet inside the robe area, which is ok for us. However from outside it looks bit weird and not good.
So wondering what I can add/stick or what to do to look it much clean/better?

 

Just have to trim it as best as possible, nobody will notice it unless you point it out

 

Trim it back level with a very sharp knife. Install a piece of beading/scotia/quad/quarter round (or whatever your particular state likes to call trims) or skirting to hide if it still bothers you.

 

Thanks This is exactly I need to find out what exact product to use for
>>> Install a piece of beading/scotia/quad/quarter round (or whatever your particular state likes to call trims) or skirting to hide if it still bothers you.

Any weblinks from bunnings or elsewhere?

 

Something like this painted white and nailed to the floor
Quad trim - Bing images

 

Bunnings has very cheap fingerjointed 'tri quad' which is already preprimed.

 

Would you lift up the frame for the wardrobe slider, remove carpet from inside the robes, then replace the slider frame?

 

Might be under the side panels too - as is the case at my IP.

 

A few work might be needed after removing the carpet especially if it's that old. Be extremely cautious if there's a member of the household who's allergic as this can add up to the probable issues.