What's under that carpet?

There are many reasons you might be left wondering just what is under your carpet. Perhaps you have moved to a new home that you are looking to renovate, maybe you are doing up your existing one, or perhaps you are just curious about what might lie beneath the fabric currently covering your floor. Many homeowners are often pleasantly surprised at what might be lurking beneath their carpets and find a much nicer floor than the one they already have or perhaps what they are expecting. Here we take a look at what you might find under that carpet and how to make the most of it.

How to easily find out what’s under that carpet

The first thing you are going to need to do to find out what is underneath your carpet is to lift it up and take a look. But you don’t want to ruin your carpet in order to do so, unless you are planning on ripping it out for a full renovation. Carpet that stretches from wall to wall is held in place with tack strips that are nailed to the floor. To take the carpet up you need to pull up the carpet in a corner of the room – it’s a good idea to do it in a corner behind furniture or where it is least noticeable – and pry off the tack from underneath. You may find that you are surprised by a beautiful wooden flooring straight away. Or you might see a layer of underlay that is there to cushion and protect your floorboards. Other times you might just have pure floorboards straight underneath.

The benefits of finding out what’s under that carpet

Hardwood flooring used to be all the rage and it wasn’t until the post-war, suburban boom that carpet really became popular. People wanted their homes to feel warmer and it was also a quicker and cheaper way to floor homes than real wood. But what this meant was that many homes had their beautiful hardwood floors covered up and undiscovered for generations to come. If you are looking to change the look of your room and are deciding what floor to invest in, it’s a good idea to check what is already hiding underneath your carpet as you might be pleasantly surprised at just what it is that you find. 

If you lift up your current carpet and find that you are blessed with hardwood flooring underneath it can feel like a real win. But this isn’t necessarily ready to use straight away. Depending on if it has been covered by underlay and protection to stop it from getting damp from spills, or even the condition the flooring was in when it was covered up, you might need to do some work to it. If the floor is damaged or not in the best condition, it’s a good idea to look into dustless hardwood floor sanding. This can make the flooring in top nick without causing too much mess to your home.