How to replace carpet with hardwood flooring? A step-past-step guide to removal and installation

Hello there!!

I'm starting a new blog "how to" series and I couldn't be more excited kickstarting information technology with this post on how to supplant carpet with hardwood flooring!

Replacing carpet with hardwood is i of the most popular and immediate updates that buyers embark on right subsequently the Closing. Information technology is a bang for cadet domicile improvement project, second only to painting.

It makes sense especially if one was buying an older home, for reasons such as existing carpets being worn or torn… or for the unproblematic fact that most people don't like the idea of inheriting other people'southward dead peel cells.

I am ane of such people, and if you'd read my mail well-nigh moving to Littleton in Aug 2021 and how I'd bought my house at $100,000 below asking, well, I mentally took $xx,000 off the value of the house simply because the upper level was entirely with erstwhile and stained carpets. Pics to follow.

Ripping out carpets was the get-go thing nosotros did; so you run into, I've been wanting to launch this "how-to" serial for nearly a year now, only I knew I had to wait to collect sufficient content before doing and so.

Thus similar a patient owl, I waited.

My husband and I bought our house in Littleton on 27 Aug, 2021. Celebrating our i year home ceremony with gratitude and the launch of this new serial!

I hope you like information technology!

How to supplant carpet with hardwood floor Step 1: Remove Carpets

Step one is to remove carpets.

Yes no south**t Sherlock, merely I did say this was going to be a step-past-step guide so I'thousand not supposed to skip steps, right?!

Here are photos of our bedroom in its original state.

Beige carpets with stains. Wonderful.

Ripping them out requires no special skill ready whatsoever, then relax - you got this!

You could honestly do information technology with brute force, sheer will, and a dash of logic (starting time with the corners, wear your N95 mask)… or you could choose to exist a fiddling more sophisticated and refer to this great video from The Home Depot:

Me?

Oh I but bossed my husband to do it. My married man in turn asked his dominate if he could come over to lend a paw. Yes really.

In the process, if y'all happen to damage the baseboard (the white trim on the wall that runs perpendicular to the carpets) aka skirting board/skirting/wainscoting/mopboard/flooring molding/base of operations molding, practise not fret - they could exist tending along with the carpets and replaced with fresh ones for an elevated wait.

I won't be writing about adding hardwood while preserving existing baseboard, but it is possible and y'all could search it up. :)

How to supersede carpet with hardwood floor Pace ii: Remove underlying (unwanted) flooring to reveal subfloors

Y'all'd want to check if the carpets were laid higher up another fabric, and if that as well needed removing. In some circumstances you could go out it on and take your hardwood floors installed over it. All-time to consult your flooring contractor; considerations for this would be whether or not that material is in good condition and could withstand the process of hardwood installation, what the resulting level of flooring would be with two materials etc.

In our hallway and other bedchamber, we found age-old parquet flooring that needed to go, then once once again my married man set up almost chipping away.

Nosotros had some interesting and gross finds behind the baseboards.

Our parquet floor was stuck onto floorboards with glue that couldn't be entirely removed, only that was ok.

Nosotros did lots of area vacuuming with a commercial vacuum to make certain the floors were prepped earlier installation.

How to supercede carpet with hardwood floor Stride 3: Construct new walls or structures

If your plan is to simply remove the carpeting and have hardwood in the verbal surface area, you could skip this department and motion on to Footstep 4.

Nonetheless, if yous would similar to construct new walls or structures, now is the perfect fourth dimension to do and then.

When I first saw our home I knew immediately that it wasn't selling at its original asking price because the cupboard in the primary chamber was merely too small for the needs of today'southward buyers. I knew the one move that would unlock instant disinterestedness: expand the cupboard.

Pro tip: Don't just stretch your arms and say "this much" for length and width. Marking it out with record.

We used green tape to marking out the perimeters and even included a vi" buffer for the thickness of walls. Red record to mark out area for hangers.

We deliberately left plenty room on the right of closet for additional functionality - office and time to come plant nursery.

Thereafter came the next steps of:

1. Sabotage and framing

2. Add dry walls

Exposed walls and ceilings would have to be insulated, of class. Here, nosotros used fiberglass insulation (R-19 for walls and a college R-Value for the ceiling). You could read about R-Value recommendations hither.

How to replace carpet with hardwood floor Stride 4: Fill gaps with joint compound/drywall mud

If yous've got new drywall sheets there'd be a fiberglass mesh or drywall tape that goes over the seam before joint compound/mud gets laid over.

If you'd ripped off the baseboard like I did, scrap the surface and fill up in dents and dings.

I'thousand not a fan of decorative plaster, but I appreciated that our plaster guy paid attention to match the existing ceiling pattern.

How to replace carpet with hardwood floor Stride 5: Paint

Paint! My favorite office! 🙌

Well, y'all could technically paint at whatsoever point of the renovation process; it's just easier to paint now than to accept hardwood installed and worry about paint splatters.

Behold, the transformation!

Excuse my dark picture; we were in the center of electric work and didn't have working lights.

We have Sherwin Williams' Snowbound for walls and Carbonized for trims and doors.

How to supplant carpet with hardwood floor Step 6: Lay Hardwood Underlayment

Nosotros got the Eco Ultra Tranquility Premium Acoustical Underlayment from Floor & Decor.

My married man insisted on getting the most sound reducing underlayment because I'm a loud walker. 😬

How to supplant carpet with hardwood floor Step 7: Install Hardwood Floors

I knew immediately what hardwood to get - the same as that of my listing at 44 Logan Ave in Medford.

White Oak!

Specifically RIVERS Border WHITE OAK SMOOTH SOLID HARDWOOD from Floor & Decor.

Shoutout to Floor & Decor by the way, they truly have the best option of flooring. And not only that, you know how in certain shops (*coughing* Home Depot and Lowe'south) you get to see only a small display and thus are unsure how the woods would look like over a larger surface?

At Floor & Decor, they've made it a indicate to display large panels of wood. Large, like 80" X fifty" or something. You could see how patterns and shades run over a larger surface, AND for a $5 deposit, take hold of a sample to bring home. Lovely!

3/four inches solid white oak hardwood on the left; staples showing from the lower level on the right.

You don't just lay hardwood over the underlayment and pray that it doesn't motility; each piece has to be manually stapled to the subfloor. There's a machine that slides forth the piece and staples it at an angle.

Et voilà!

How to replace carpet with hardwood floor Step 8: Install baseboard Trim

Hardwood floors are not installed flushed to walls- in that location needs to be a gap betwixt floor and wall to let for estrus expansion.

That gap is subconscious by the baseboard trim.

In our case, we wanted as much vertical space on the wall every bit possible so instead of a traditional rectangular baseboard, we opted for quarter rounds.

final Look: Office expanse

So! This is me, guys!

I love monochromatic blackness and white and have been told that equally a person, I'1000 like that besides. And if you haven't already guessed from my website, I love royal 💜!

I'm a tardily comer when information technology comes to the plant game, but as of the fourth dimension of writing, my sansevieria and croton are alive and well.

Disclaimer: That is not a Marking Rothko painting that you're seeing; that is a print that I got from Male monarch & McGaw and then please go go one yourself and do not rob me 👿!

Trusted Contractors:

Paint
Fabricio Cancado, Reality Pro Painting

Hardwood installation
Jeffrey Pello, JEFF PELLO'Southward HARDWOOD FLOORS INC

full general contracting - demo, closet, finish piece of work
devin fitzgerald, S.D. Fitzgerald inc