How to Get Rid of Old Carpet

When it comes to disposing of your old carpet, it’s tough to know where to start. Old carpets can be bulky, dusty, heavy and are always heavier than you think they are.

No matter if you’re replacing flooring, prepping a rental for a new tenant, doing a full house cleanout, or just making a change in your space, carpet can be a tough factor to deal with on your own. So, what are your options?

Typically no, carpets can’t get picked up in regular household trash. It’s rare for waste disposal companies to take:

• Large rolls of carpet
• Carpet padding
• Tack strips
• Flooring debris

Some municipalities allow small sections to be thrown with regular household trash within specific regulations or special scheduling.

If you’re a DIYer at heart and you’ve checked with your municipality about carpet pickup, then you’ll need the following tools for disposal:

• Utility knife
• Heavy duty gloves
• Duct tape
• Pliers, hammer (something to removal tack strips and nails)
• Knee pads

Steps:

1. Cut carpet into 3 or 4 foot wide strips
2. Roll tightly
3. Tape carpet securely
4. Separate padding into its own strips
5. Remove excess nails in the floor and tack strips using pliers and hammer

A word of caution: A standard 12×12 room’s carpet can weigh over 100 lbs. Tack strips also are sharp and commonly cut through trash bags. We recommend heavy duty contractor bags for DIY disposal.

Once your carpet is all rolled up and packed into whatever vehicle you can move it in, you can take it to a local landfill or transfer station.

Make sure to factor in:

• Time going back and forth to the dump
• Dump fees
• Vehicle space
• Cleaning your car after
• Time waiting in line at the transfer station

Depending on how large your renovation is and how much carpet your vehicle can move at one time, you may need to make multiple dump runs.

In theory yes, but it depends on:

• Material type
• Condition
• Local facility processing and availability

Most heavily used residential and commercial carpets end up in landfills due to adhesives, padding and general contamination.

When it comes down to it, a lot of us are looking for the easiest way to get rid of our old carpet. We don’t want to rip it up, leave it laying around waiting for the local waste company to pick it up on their time, or do multiple dump runs with our personal cars.

That’s where Radius Hauling can help. We can:

• Remove carpet and padding
• Take up tack strips and debris
• Clean up your space after removal
• Load everything into our truck
• Dispose responsibly 

Carpet removal quickly becomes a bigger job than many of us plan for. Trust the experts at Radius Hauling to help.

Get a free estimate today to get rid of your old carpet!