Your new carpet installation should begin with the right type and best quality cushion you can afford.  Padding acts as a shock absorber, among other properties, and choosing the right one will prolong the performance and life of your carpet.

According to the Carpet Cushion Council, carpet cushions offer the following benefits to carpet installations:

• Carpet cushion can add a useful life to a carpet
• Carpet cushion makes a carpet seem richer and more luxurious
• Carpet cushion can significantly improve a carpet’s acoustical properties
• Carpet cushion can improve the thermal insulation properties of the floor covering
• Carpet cushion can reduce the impact exerted on floor covering by one-half

There are three basic types of cushion:  foam, rubber and  fiber. 

Foam
Bonded foam (also known as rebond) is one of the most amazing recycling projects of all time. Nearly all the scrap foam in the U.S., and some from other countries as well, is utilized to make bonded cushion. This recycles waste, which would otherwise be thrown out, and it eases the strain on our landfills. Moreover, bonded foam is itself recyclable.  It is formed by combining chopped and shredded pieces of foam, in different sizes and usually different colors, into one solid piece.

Rubber
Waffled rubber cushion is made by molding natural or synthetic rubber. Heat cures the rubber and forms a waffle pattern. This variety produces a soft, resilient cushion whose luxurious feel is particularly useful for residences.

Flat sponge rubber is a firm, dense cushion, which has a flat surface and is normally used in large-scale commercial applications and residential applications over concrete.

Fiber
Synthetic fibers cushion (also known as felt) include nylon, polyester, polypropylene, and acrylics, which are needle-punched into relatively dense cushions which have a firm feel and, as with other types of cushion, can be made in virtually any weight, to stand up under light, medium, or heavy traffic.  Felt synthetic padding is used under area rugs and is installed under berber carpet.

At Action Carpet & Floor Covering we also offer Stainmaster padding and Shaw Floors St. Jude padding.  Stainmaster padding is made of Visco-Elastic memory foam (similar to the foam used in tempurpedic mattresses) which redistributes weight and surface pressure. It also has a moisture barrier which keeps liquid spills from soaking into the pad.  Shaw Floors St. Jude cushions also have a moisture barrier allowing easier clean up of spills and stains.  For every purchase of cushion from the Shaw Cushion for St. Jude collection, a donation will be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  To date Shaw Floors has raised over $2.5 million for St Judes!

To see samples of the different types of carpet cushions that Action Carpet offers, come into one of our locations and a sales associate will be happy to show you.

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I've been meaning to rip out that old basement carpet for months now.  Nothing forces a project like doggie doo-doo!  Yep, I woke up early on Saturday morning not to the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee but, to the stench of fresh-brewed doo-doo coming from the basement. So, I made myself that cup of coffee and tackled the carpet rip-out STAT.

Since carpet removal is a service Action Carpet & Floor Covering provides to homeowners at an additional charge, I decided to use my doo-doo dilemma as an opportunity to blog about 'How To Remove Old Carpet' in hopes of inspiring you to do it yourself and, in the process, save yourself a little bit of  money.  Removing carpet that is not glued down is not hard to do.  Depending on the volume you have to pull up, it can be time-consuming, but it's definitely a task most homeowners can handle.  So, here goes...

How To Remove Old Carpet

Materials:
Utility Knife or Carpet Knife
New Blades
Work Gloves
Duct Tape
Crowbar

1. Start at a corner
You may need to use a crowbar to loosen up the carpet starting from a corner. With the knife cut a line down the carpet approximately 3 feet wide.  Begin to pull the carpet up but be very careful not to brush your hands across the tack strips, they are very sharp and can penetrate a work glove.  The carpet should tear along the line you cut but you may need to re-cut along the way.  Replace the blades as needed.  The blades will dull very quickly so be sure to change them out often.

2.  Roll the carpet strips up
Starting from one end, roll the 3 foot carpet strip into a nice neat little roll and use duct tape to secure it.

3.  Repeat

4.  Carpet disposal
Before you bring the rolls of carpet to the roadside for trash pick up, be sure to call your garbage disposal company to find out if they provide that service.  If you bring them to a town dump, be prepared to be charged a fee for disposal.

If you are replacing your carpet with new carpet, leave the tack strips in place.  Unless they are water-damaged, they can be re-used to install your new carpet.  If you are not replacing the old carpet with new carpet, with a crowbar, hammer and elbow grease you can remove the tack strips.  Pry them off at the point where they are nailed into the floor and the task should go a little smoother.

It's really that simple!  

NOTE:
You do NOT have to remove carpet because of a pet accident.  My carpet was old and needed to be pulled up anyway.  When pet accidents happen, clean them up as best as you can and then call us at 860-298-0070 to set up a professional cleaning.