Moving is often quite a big job. It takes time, money and a lot of effort to furnish the new house completely according to your own wishes. Many houses have a hall with a staircase to the top. Many of these stairs are fully or partially carpeted. But what if you don’t like the floor covering? Remove the carpet? Easier said than done.
Index
- Staircase renovation
- How to remove the carpet
- Sequel
Staircase renovation
The first step in completely renovating the stairs is to remove the carpeting. This can be placed as a whole or in bars. Usually this floor covering is glued or nailed to the stairs. Try removing this properly. Fortunately, there are useful tips to completely remove the floor covering from the stairs without too much damage. Keeping calm is of course important anyway.
How to remove the carpet
Removing the floor covering can sometimes be a really tough job. A nailed or glued staircase is ideal to use because it barely slides, but to get it loose it is really a very tough job. It is most disadvantageous when the floor covering is glued to the stairs. If you are lucky, the floor covering is fixed with nails or nails. It is then a matter of carefully lifting the floor covering and gently pulling out the nails or nails one by one until the floor covering comes off. In any case, it is always advisable to start at the top and work your way down. Glued floor coverings are therefore a lot more difficult to remove. For this you can try the following solutions:
- Water and soap
- Cola
- Carpet adhesive remover
- Spatula and hammer
- Sander
- Outsourcing
Water and soap
This method of removing floor covering is the safest, but also the most time consuming way. In order to be able to remove the glue between the stairs and the floor covering with soap and water, the glue used must of course be a water-based glue. Make sure you have a good water to soap ratio. Preferably moisten the entire floor covering to be removed with a sponge, let it dry for a while and then do the same again. Then let the mixture sit for at least four hours (overnight is better) before trying to remove the carpet. If it worked properly, the floor covering should come off along with the adhesive and you can easily peel off any adhesive residue from the stairs. If the glue still sticks, it is unfortunately not a water-based glue and you have to come up with something else.
Cola
Cola? Yes, cola has the property of being a great solvent for many types of glue. To get the glued floor covering loose, pour the cola over the floor covering, using a sponge may be useful to get a good distribution of the cola. It is also wise to try to poke small holes in the carpet before pouring, so that the cola can get between the stairs and the carpet even better and dissolve the glue. Let soak for a few minutes and then carefully pull the carpet off the stairs. When you have finally removed your carpet completely from the stairs, residual adhesive and carpet may have remained. Of course, nothing more annoying than an uneven surface to work on. Carefully pour a little cola over the leftover glue and let it soak for a few minutes. You will notice that after those few minutes it is a lot easier to remove the last residue.
pay attention: Cola is and remains a liquid, so it can drip through holes and cracks to an underlying space just like water. Make sure the area is empty or well taped.
Carpet adhesive remover
It may of course be the case that the glue is so persistent that water and soap and / or cola do not work at all. What other solution do you have? You can try using a carpet glue remover. Please note that this product contains chemical components and can therefore certainly not be used in poorly ventilated areas. Provide plenty of fresh air while removing the adhesive. When the glue on your stairs is a dissolvable base, it shouldn’t be a problem anymore to get the stairs glue free.
Spatula and hammer
If the carpet glue remover does not work either, it is time for the coarser guns. If you cannot remove the floor covering, you can use a blunt spatula or a blunt putty knife. It is useful to do the job with two people; one keeps the carpet taut while the other gently taps the carpet loose with a putty knife and a hammer. Again, you work from top to bottom, so that it is easier to keep the removed carpet taut.
Of course this form of carpet removal is a bit more damaging for the stairs, so don’t go wild but try to keep the stairs intact.
Sander
If the stairs are clean you can start sanding the stairs. This is very important because you do not want the paint or varnish that you are going to apply to it not adhering properly. Since stairs often have many weird corners and points, it is best to use an attachment sander or mouse sander. Areas where you cannot reach with the machine will have to be sanded by hand. The worse the condition of the stairs, the coarser the sandpaper will have to be.
Outsourcing
If you do not have the courage or the energy to remove the floor covering from the stairs, then outsourcing is a good, but more expensive, alternative. Guidelines are between 300 euros and 2000 euros, depending on the renovation. If you have the entire staircase renovated by a professional staircase renovation company, it is often possible to have the floor covering removed for free. Discuss this with the company in advance and of course make sure that it has not yet been included in the total sum of the entire staircase renovation. Do not work directly with the first company that submits a quotation, but let several companies look at your stairs. This can certainly be beneficial!
Sequel
Now that the floor covering has been completely removed, you can continue with the staircase renovation: sanding the stairs and the skirting boards, painting the stairs and the skirting boards and, if necessary, re-covering the stairs. This way you are one step closer to furnishing the house in your own personal taste.