Carpet to Hardwood in Cary, NC

Cary Hardwood Flooring replaces carpet with hardwood floors in homes across Cary. We take up the old carpet, check the floor underneath and fit the new boards to each room.

Taking up the carpet

We pull up the carpet, the pad under it and the tack strips, which are the thin strips of wood with sharp points that hold the edge of the carpet down. We also pull the staples that held the pad, so the floor under it is clean and flat before we start.

Sometimes we find a wood floor already under the carpet. Then we check whether it can be sanded and finished again instead of replaced, which our hardwood floor refinishing page covers.

Old vinyl under the carpet

Sometimes we find an older vinyl floor under the carpet instead. The EPA lists vinyl floor tiles and the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and adhesives among the products that may contain asbestos. It also says you generally can't tell whether a material contains asbestos just by looking at it, unless it is labeled.

The EPA's advice is not to sand or try to level asbestos flooring or its backing, and to put the new floor covering over it when that's possible. So if we find old vinyl or black glue under your carpet, we stop before we scrape or sand anything. The EPA says that if you are making changes that might disturb material with asbestos in it, the repair or removal needs a trained and accredited asbestos professional.

Moisture in a Cary house

The Forest Products Laboratory says wood takes on moisture from its surroundings. Its Wood Handbook says cracks can open in a wood floor if the boards take up moisture before or after they are laid, then shrink when the house is heated.

So we check the moisture in the new boards and in the floor under them before we start. We also leave a small gap at every wall, hidden under the trim, so the boards have room to move.

Doors, stairs and where the floors meet

We look at every doorway before we start, because the new wood floor won't sit at the same height as the carpet and pad did, and we trim the bottom of a door if the new floor would catch it. Where the new wood meets tile or carpet in the next room, we fit a strip that covers the joint.

If your stairs are carpeted too, we can do them at the same time, as our hardwood stairs page explains.

Solid or engineered boards

We fit solid hardwood flooring, one piece of wood top to bottom, and engineered hardwood flooring. A U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory study says engineered wood flooring is made of several sheets of solid wood, called veneer, bonded together with glue under heat, pressure or both.

What changes the price

We price carpet to hardwood for your house once we've measured, and you get that quote in writing.

We set our price by the size of the rooms, how many doorways and corners we cut around, and whether you pick solid or engineered boards. We also count in taking up and hauling away the carpet, any repairs to the floor underneath, and sanding and finishing in your house if the boards come unfinished.

What to get in writing

Ask for these in writing, whoever you hire:

• The wood species, and whether the boards are solid or engineered.
• Whether taking up the carpet, pad and tack strips, and hauling them away, are in the price.
• What happens if old vinyl or glue turns up under the carpet.
• How the moisture of the boards and the floor below will be checked.
• Whether doors will be trimmed and new trim put back along the walls.

Questions about carpet to hardwood in Cary

Get a quote for carpet to hardwood

Call us, or send the quote form with your ZIP code and the rooms you want done. We'll measure, go through wood and finish options with you, and give you a written quote. To see the other flooring work we do, go to the Cary Hardwood Flooring home page.