What To Do With Old Carpet When You Are Ready To Get Rid Of It

After making a decision to update your carpeting, you first need to purchase a new roll and decide whether you want to pay to have someone install it. To save some money, you may focus on how to easily install the new carpet yourself. However, before you start tearing out the old carpet, you should at least have an idea about what you want to do with the used material afterward. You have a number of choices for what you're going to do with the carpeting, ranging from throwing it away to attempting to recycle it and a few other options in between.

It's also important to consider how you are going to take up your old carpet. Learning how to rip up your old carpet properly before installing new flooring can help you do the job efficiently while protecting the subfloor as much as possible for the new installation. Even more importantly, tearing out the old material properly gives you more options for what you're going to do with it afterward. If you rip out the carpet in multiple tiny chunks, you limit your options for what you can do with it. If you are able to preserve most of the roll, your options increase significantly.

Certainly, the easiest option is to throw it away. This is easier when you have a small amount to discard or if you cut it into small pieces to make sure it fits in your bins. If you don't have the ability to cut the carpeting into small pieces, you would need to be certain that your trash hauler will accept the larger pieces and rolls. These items are quite heavy, and your hauler may simply refuse to take them for you. Of course, the fact that the rolls are extremely heavy may also make it difficult for you to move them on your own without significant help and without cutting them into smaller chunks.

It's also possible that your trash hauling service will not accept any form of carpeting, even if you can fit it inside the trash bins. Some have limits on the amount you can place in your regular trash, meaning you may need to wait for a special collection day for this type of waste. If you don't want to wait for a collection day, you may want to call a dumpster rental company and have it deliver a dumpster to your location, as long as that company is willing to take carpeting rolls. You also may need to take the rolls directly to your local landfill facility for proper disposal, depending on your local rules. 

Even though it's easy to throw away your old carpeting, you may not want to discard carpeting with the regular trash because this material does not break down easily when it's in the landfill. It can take more than 50 years to decompose. For this reason, you may prefer to try to recycle the material after removing it. If you recycle the roll that you tear out, it could end up used as fibers for new carpet tiles or as plastic pellets used in numerous industries.

However, it is difficult to recycle because it consists of so many different types of fibers. Consequently, only certain recycling facilities accept carpeting and padding. If you are unsure whether you have a local facility that will accept this material, contact a local store that sells carpeting or reach out to your city's recycling service for help. The Carpet America Recovery Effort group may also be able to help with finding local recycling options.

For recycling purposes, it shouldn't matter if you cut the old material into tiny pieces or if you provide the entire roll. It's just easier to carry small pieces to the recycling center than the heavy roll.

Another potential option is donating the carpeting for reuse by someone else. Some nonprofit organizations are willing to accept donations for reuse. However, never just assume that a nonprofit organization is going to accept your used materials without checking first or calling ahead. For example, most organizations require that the material be in good shape and clean, so you may need to hire a carpet cleaner before you remove it. Most of these organizations simply don't have the volunteers available to clean old carpeting after a donation.

Some organizations are only willing to accept new materials or remnants, such as Habitat for Humanity. If you plan to donate to a nonprofit, you should also check for any limitations they have on size. If the organization only wants carpet that's at least 50 square feet in size, for example, this may affect the way you remove the old carpeting. It's more challenging to remove the material in a large piece, rather than in tiny chunks, so you'll want to know about any donation size limitations before you try to tear out the old carpeting.

Consider trying to sell your old carpeting or giving it away. You can probably find local marketplaces that allow you to list items for sale or for free where you could advertise your carpeting for little or no cost, such as Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. With a product like this, you will want to try to limit the number of people who can see your carpeting to those who are close to you, so they can either pick it up or you can deliver it easily. One advantage of using a local marketplace listing service is that you often can convince the buyer to pick up the roll, which can save you time and hassle versus hauling it to a disposal or recycling facility or taking it to a nonprofit on your own.

Now, you shouldn't expect to get rich trying to sell your old carpeting, unless you have an antique carpeting that is valuable. Additionally, customers will want the carpet to be extremely clean and the right size. Because the market for this type of used product is limited, you may have to store the roll for a few weeks, or longer, until the right person finds your ad. You may simply want it to be gone. If so, giving it away for free may be the better option.

If you don't want to mess with taking care of the old roll of carpeting at all, you may just want to see if someone will take it away for you immediately for a fee. Try a junk hauling removal company. Such companies may even be willing to show up the same day you need them, as long as you meet any deadlines they have. Some companies require that you schedule them ahead of time, though. Some junk removal companies may even be willing to tear out the old carpeting for you, clean the area, and haul it away for one comprehensive fee. If recycling or donation is important to you, ask the junk company if it can do this for you.

If you are hiring someone to install the new roll of carpeting for you, the installer may be willing to remove the old carpet and haul it away for an additional fee beyond the cost of purchasing and installing the new roll of carpet, although some installers may offer all of these services as part of the total installation cost. Just let the installer know ahead of time that you want the old carpeting removed and hauled away.