Chinook RV

Would it be easier to remove the carpet without the furniture in the way? Heck yes. Then you could rip out entire swaths in no time. Otherwise, it's a slower painstaking job with cutters and pliers.

Still, the overwhelming majority of people I've read about (and me as well), left the furniture in place, and later covered any rough spots with floor edge molding.

For that matter, few want to remove all the carpet under their furniture and water tank, because it serves as insulation.

Upshot is, the installer is right, it could be much quicker and cleaner, IF he's able to quickly remove some furniture.

When we decided to pull the carpet out, we did not realize that it was under everything! The manufacturer obviously laid the carpet throughout (except in the bathroom) before mounting any of the furniture and woodwork. Thankfully, it was not glued down, so we began by cutting along the edges of the couch, etc. and ripping out small sections at a time. The process took about 4-5 hours. The pad was stapled to the plywood subfloor, but the staples were easy to remove with a flat head screwdriver. Be sure to have a shopvac handy, and I'd suggest wearing a mask because the pad is full of sand. Obviously the most thorough and professional way to remove the carpet is to remove the furniture, etc. first but for a DIY, I didn't want to take on the scope of that project! We ordered vinyl flooring with a matching quarter round to hide any unsightly edges.

We posted some pics of the floor after we pulled the carpet, and we will post our progress hopefully next week.

Response to Paul...if you don't mind me asking, what is your guy charging you to remove everything to get the carpet out?


John

I removed the club lounge, sofa, water tank, furnace, etc. This was done for reasons other than carpet removal, but it no doubt made things easier in the front of the coach. Still had to do the trimming around cabinets in the kitchen and bath areas. But overall I'm not certain that removing/replacing the furniture would net time savings. I used end nippers for the staples, and they worked well. I was planning to use a shop vac, but opted for an electric leaf blower for clean up.

Hi John - my guy charges me $75 an hour and has generally been good about staying close to his estimates for work he's done on our home. We haven't nailed down the whole scope of work yet so I don't know what the job will cost.

After getting some feedback here I'm thinking that it would save me some money to pull the carpet out myself without removing the furniture, water tank, etc.. I have removed the carpet from our small house twice on my own (found out that dogs and carpet don't mix) so I have skills and vocabulary needed for task!

Paul

Scott wrote:I was planning to use a shop vac, but opted for an electric leaf blower for clean up.

I love it!

(cue sound of Tim Allen, Tool Guy, grunting in satisfaction)

pdemarest wrote:I have removed the carpet from our small house twice on my own (found out that dogs and carpet don't mix) so I have skills and vocabulary needed for task!

Ha. Plus you'll have a bragging story for later

Find some really sharp cutters, btw. This old carpet is tough.

kdarling wrote:
For that matter, few want to remove all the carpet under their furniture and water tank, because it serves as insulation.

I suppose the left over carpet would be good for sound deadening as well.

kdarling wrote:

Scott wrote:I was planning to use a shop vac, but opted for an electric leaf blower for clean up.

I love it!

(cue sound of Tim Allen, Tool Guy, grunting in satisfaction)

Haha, yeah . Actually got the idea from Carl Spackler in Caddy Shack. I put a box fan at the back door for exhaust, and went to town. It was dusty in the coach, and needed a thorough cleaning anyway. Also (in theory) the leaf blower got rid of loose fibers from the ceiling (that hull liner tends to shed).

Scott wrote:

kdarling wrote:

Scott wrote:I was planning to use a shop vac, but opted for an electric leaf blower for clean up.

I love it!

(cue sound of Tim Allen, Tool Guy, grunting in satisfaction)

Haha, yeah . Actually got the idea from Carl Spackler in Caddy Shack. I put a box fan at the back door for exhaust, and went to town. It was dusty in the coach, and needed a thorough cleaning anyway. Also (in theory) the leaf blower got rid of loose fibers from the ceiling (that hull liner tends to shed).

You should see the carnage when I clean my gutters with the leaf blower!

Floor came out great but was a lot of work.

I'm definitely going to put the wood floor carpet replacement in my project queue. And like this thread references, I've been curious about the removal of the furniture. I guess it doesn't seem necessary, although I think I would rather have it clean going under the furniture than molding. Maybe just have it go under a bit, so that you don't have to pull it from under the tank, heater, etc? Would that work? For those who have just cut it out, how do you ensure proper fitment of the access door under the couch? It seems that the wood would be thicker than the carpet, and not align with the fasteners any more. And I guess there's no molding there, either, correct?

Does anyone have a photo of the transition from wood to carpet as you enter the driver area?

And finally, on this huge TV install, would LOVE to see the behind the scenes mount. Mine has the small flat screen with the little arm extending from the old TV cubby. Just wondering if it's a similar mount.