We Should Have Tore Up Our Living Room Carpet Years Ago
By Steve Helmer
@srhelmer (7029)
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
March 24, 2017 3:30pm CST
My wife has wanted to replace that carpet for years (it was in the house when we moved in and is not in good shape any more) but we never seemed to have the money. So, this year, we decided to tear up the carpet anyway and, to save money, just put down some cheap (but decent-looking) tile until we could afford something better.
Since she had the day off from work, she started tearing it up behind the couch and other areas where nobody would see it, just to get a start on it. And, to our amazement, she discovered hardwood flooring underneath it.
I kind of suspected the house had hardwood floors, at least at one point, but, based on what I've seen when we did the hallway and kitchen, I figured they weren't well cared for and weren't usable as a result. At least from what she's exposed, it looks like the living room floor is actually in great shape though and just needs a little polish.
That would be a whole lot cheaper than replacing it, that's for sure. I guess we probably should have just tore up that carpet right away.
6 people like this
6 responses
@AutumnSnow (4583)
•
24 Mar 17
That happpened to us a few years ago. This place we was lving in had some of the nastiest carpet you never want to seen and of all places in the bathroom. We had premission from the landlord to put down tile. I did the same as your wife and tore up a small corner under the sink and couldnt believe it was beautiful marble flooring. All we had to do was polish it up a bit. Makes you wonder what some people are thinking.
1 person likes this
@srhelmer (7029)
• Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
24 Mar 17
As I mentioned, I kind of suspected we had hardwood floors in that house. However, the people who put the carpets in the house (long before we bought it) enjoyed using both glue and (a lot of) nails and, as a result, whenever we've torn up carpeting in other parts of the house, the flooring underneath was a disaster to the point you couldn't tell it was once hardwood. Because of that, we held off on the living room (the largest room in the house) because we thought there was a really good chance we would have to buy new flooring and needed to have money aside to do it.
The one plus to waiting is we have the flooring money set aside and, since we don't need to use it on flooring, can now put it toward some other project.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
24 Mar 17
Hardwood floors are very in vogue right now. You lay down some rugs for highlight.
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