Goodbye Carpet on the Stairs

I don't have anything against carpet, per se. I do have a big problem with stained, old, worn out beige berber carpet covering the front stairs & foyer.Chris & I were really hoping to find hardwood under said nasty carpet & we did! 

Before- gross carpet on the front steps

This was our first experience ripping out carpet and it was satisfying to be sure. Taking the carpet off is relatively easy once you get a corner of it up. The pad comes off just as easily. 

First stairs showing

Hooray! Hardwood!

Next up are the staples, which came out pretty easily, we used pliers to grab them straight out. The stubborn/flattened staples were forced out using a flat head screwdriver. We were trying to be mindful not to gouge the wood because we are keeping it. We are excited at the prospect of keeping as much of the old house that we can - including things like hardwood. The contractor will refinish the stairs once the "real" work begins - but our efforts have paid off already.

The trouble is these beastly things.

After - in the garbage!

Before- evil plywood on steps

I don't even know what they are called, but they are strips of plywood that are nailed into the stairs and have nails pointing up into the world. Horrible to remove. The plywood splits & splinters & shreds out in a very unsatisfying way. 

Good thing I have my Dad to give me advice; I had no idea how to get this pesky pieces of nail filled plywood off of the stairs. Dad did (which is a shock to approximately no one). Again, I don't know the name of this wonderful tool - but it worked wonders. If you are removing carpet - do not begin without spending $14.99 on this tool at your local hardware store!

The wonderful tool! Plus a close up of the evil plywood.

Another huge help for this project were the 2 pairs of knee pads our (lovely) tenant found while she cleaned out the basement before she moved. We could not have done this project without them, as we spent a couple of hours hunched over on our knees pulling out the staples & strips of awful plywood. 

It was dusty work and there were shards of plywood & sometimes nails flying around (I had to use a lot of force with the fulcrum tool to remove some of the plywood strips) so I took the appropriate precautions. Though I'm not big into selfies...this was too funny not to photograph!

Looking good - safety first!

We were so very excited to finish the stairs - they look SO much better already! I'd love to hear about your experiences taking out carpet - if you've ever tried. We've been encouraged so much by this DIY effort, we're going to keep on trucking to see what other treasures we find! 

After - voila! Hardwood!