Wooden Floorboards Under Carpet

[joko]

can i just lift the carpet and there you go? (aside from lookswise)

or are there things you need to do to it? Or at least things i should have ready to do before i lift the carpet?

i just dont want to lift it up and find loads of good sized gaps and have every creepy crawlie between the floors coming up - and be stuck with it until i can get them sealed etc.

so are floorboards generally open to the gaps between floors? or are they made a certain way to seal them somewhat?

I dont mind a few, or very thin gaps, just not the whole lot and one of like a cm or inch etc

its a pretty old house, that hasnt had anything done to the floor in about 80 years or more

thanks :)

[ummmm]

Do you have a cellar?

I just pulled up my carpet, sanded them, good wash, and varnished them. They look sound.

[tonyav]

Should be alright, over the years they have done their expanding and contracting. Just fix any squeaky ones that you may have.

[bluemoon1]

They'll probably be tongue and groove so only tiny gaps, I'll know better when you've took the carpet up. :)

[Canary42]

Some floorboards are tongue-and-grooved, but an older house probably won't be. The cracks between boards aren't usually sealed in any way, and unless there's been a lot of shrinkage the gaps may still be fairly thin (when laid they would have been butted up against each other). In my experience of such floors, there are unlikely to be any creepy-crawlies, except perhaps a few harmless spiders.

[Mamyalynne]

Cross your fingers and hope the edge aren't help down with those gripper strips.

[TonyV]

If you are planning to bin the carpet, I'd take a Stanley knife to it whilst in situ and roll it into strips, much easier to deal with.

[jno]

mine's as Canary suggests, not tongue and grooved and small gaps between them, so if you've got an oldish house you won't really know till you've had a look.

[joko]

thanks, no, no cellar.

i'm hoping do it myself so i dont want to get halfway and wish i hadnt started, and end too tired & sore to carry on, as its a far bigger job than i thought.

I dont care what it looks like at the moment, i just want to get the job done for now.

paying people or getting people in to help is not an option.

its me, or it doesnt happen. :(

also the room is full of furniture etc, with nowhere for it to go - except to be pushed around the room as i go.
Carpet is for the bin, so happy to do a section at a time, if need be, by cutting it up.
so its going to take a while.

im wondering if the underside of the carpet will be all perished and stuck to the boards by now, being so old??
can it be just be scraped away? is it 'toxic'?

i dont want to

[Canary42]

Really can't answer without seeing it. You need to lift a corner and have a look. You may be lucky and it will come away cleanly (or as was quite common at one time, there may just be a layer of newspaper - this can make it very time-consuming as you keep pausing to read interesting news from years ago). As far as I know underlay or backing isn't toxic.

[Old_Geezer]

You won't know until you look.

You didn't actually say what your aim was.

[The Builder]

I would suggest lifting one corner to have a look first, Joko.
Yes 80 years could be either "tongued and grooved" or loose boards simply "butted" together.
Slide a knife blade between the boards to check for tongues.

If you have loose boards, then there may be one major drawback.
A "suspended floor" has continuous ventilation under the floor, usually from airbricks dotted around the exterior walls (only visible from outside.)
You may end up with a diabolical draught problem.

Also, you'll soon see if the carpet is laid with grippers, or glued.
Cheap carpet (even if it's not glued) often leaves most of the backing behind when the carpet is lifted.
That is a major scraping problem.
Lift a corner first.

[bednobs]

we had some insulation put under ours in our 1930s house when we took the caret up