Removing Carpet, Continued
2006.01.01
Today I removed the rest of the carpet and base molding in the back room. I cut the carpet into sections as I was removing it, and stacked them up on some 6-mil plastic that I bought at Lowes (originally designed to cover the floor while painting). When I had all the carpet stacked and wrapped up as best I could, I realized it was way too heavy for me to possibly lug it upstairs. So I called Nate and he came over a couple hours later and helped me carry it out back… where it now resides next to the pile of concrete sidewalk rubble from this summer. Hey, I’m just trying to fit in with my neighbors.
The darker orangey colored stuff that you see on the floor is dry carpet mastic. The yellowish colored stuff is wet carpet mastic. This gives you some idea of the extent of water inflow to the room… basically all of it, except for a high spot around the door. The lowest part of the floor is at the northwest corner in that closet, which is why the water was the deepest there, of course. Also seems to be where most of it is coming in, although there are at least one or two other source points along the south wall. The black stuff on the floor is residue from rubber carpet pad that must be from some previous carpet installation, as the carpet I pulled up did not have a pad.
When I was pulling up the carpet, I found a couple wire nuts underneath. I’d always wondered what those funny lumps were in the carpet… These guys were so cheap and lazy, they didn’t even sweep up stuff like that before slopping down carpet mastic and laying the carpet down. Fortunately for me, they didn’t do a very good job of gluing the carpet down either, mostly just around the perimeter and one swipe down the middle of the room.
Removing Carpet