Do carpet fitters remove existing flooring?

varfor

I’ve been looking into getting new flooring throughout the house. 

I understand that fitters are not expected to move furniture or dispose of waste but do they take up existing flooring?

The carpet should be fairly straightforward if I have to do it but we have some laminate floor that appears to be glued down. 

Ideally I’d pay someone to do the removal but wondering if fitters tend to do it or if they expect all flooring to be removed before their job starts?

[Deleted User]

From experience of Carpetright they offer an uplift service which is charged per m2. 

Not sure of other flooring companies. 

TELLIT01

It depends entirely on the company / fitter.  Some will move furniture and the old carpet, others expect the room to be completely cleared for them.  If they do the removal there will obviously be additional cost.

twopenny

We have independent business where I live and they will take up and dispose of old carpet.

I think with the laminate they would suggest putting board down over it as they do with vinyl and tiles.

Do you know what's under the laminate? I'm guessing whatever it is will be uneven with glue and such.

Marmaduke123

Do you have floor boards? If so it would be best to have the existing carpet lifted before the carpet fitters arrive to fit the new carpets. There may be areas  of floor boards which need remediation.

Indigo_and_Violet

In theory lifting old carpet is an easy job not worth paying someone else to do.

However, we paid for the carpet right uplift and disposal partly because disposing would have been tricky for us (we'd have had to hire a car) and because when we did a little test patch it showed the underlay was glued down and it was going to be a much harder job than it needed to be. 

Before we replaced the carpets a guy came round to quote. I'd ask them then if they can lift the laminate. Our quote guy said yes, our fitters did some humming and hahing about how they might have to get a scraper and so they'd have to charge us more and come back another day but they managed to make it work manually in the end. 

MalMonroe

Yes they will but it usually isn't free. Would it be possible for them to lay underlay and then carpet on top of the laminate? That may give your home a bit more insulation too. I wouldn't be able to uplift and dispose of carpets so I have no option but to pay a carpet fitter to that. Sometimes they've given a bit of a discount, especially when I have bought carpet from their company. And actually, it's always worth asking if they will do that. You lose nothing but may gain something.

Sometimes carpet fitters WILL move furniture around, especially if there are two of them. I just can't do it and tell them that in advance. I've never been charged for that. And that's how carpet suppliers have kept my custom over the years.

If you are wanting new flooring throughout, carpet suppliers and fitters will want to please you because you will be paying more than people who are just having one room fitted. It's always worth asking for what you want too because they want your custom.

EssexExile

You have to specify what you want done when placing the order. I always make it clear that I'm old and decrepit and that they will have to remove the old flooring and move furniture. National chains tend to charge, local shops not so much.

AskAsk

i got a few quotes for carpet recently and they all offered lifting the existing carpet and removing it from the property if you wanted this service.  with regard to laminate, i am not sure they would do this so you would have to ask.

Apintplease

It all depends on what you are willing to pay for

I had my lounge and stairs re carpeted with new underlay as well and I only paid for fitting, which meant I had to remove existing and move the free moving furniture

When I had Lino put over laminate in the hall ways, we done our own boarding over and removed the skirtings.

Not really that much cheaper, but it makes for a faster job. We are both handy with DIY so for us it made sense to DIY rather then pay

Depends on your skill set really

( my lounge is top floor so I rolled the carpet and lobbed it out a window rather then struggle with the stairs )

TELLIT01

One advantage of having them lift and remove the carpet is that you can't end up without any carpet if there is a delay with the new one.  We were having new carpet for the hall, stairs and landing so I removed the carpet and underlay the day before the new one was due.  Later that day I had a call to say that when they unrolled the carpet to cut to size they discovered it was damaged so couldn't be used.  We had no carpet for a couple of weeks.  That's no big problem in the hall but if furniture had been shifted and a living room carpet removed it would be more annoying to say the least.