Logistics of replacing carpeting

[Suzanne in ABQ]

We have wall-to-wall carpeting in three bedrooms and the stairs.  All of it needs to be replaced.  What is the best way to deal with furniture and all the "stuff" that lives in those rooms.  The upstairs furniture is teak, and it's very heavy, but it could be moved into the living room.  Downstairs, though, there is no place for the furniture except the hallway (which wouldn't hold all of it at once).  I will definitely have the carpet professionally installed, but how does it typically work.  Does all the furniture need to be moved in advance?  Does it need to be kept off the new carpet for any period of time?  Do carpet installers move furniture, or do I need to hire someone else to do it?  

What's the best way to do this?

[cjzimmer1]

I haven't had any carpet replaced in my own home but I remember my parents doing it.  We had to move all the furniture ourselves.  And yes basically it was piled in some place where they weren't replacing the carpet.  Is your downstairs all done is a single piece?  Otherwise I would consider just doing part of it at a time and storing the furniture in whatever part isn't being done, and then at some other point have them come back and do the other parts.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

39 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I haven't had any carpet replaced in my own home but I remember my parents doing it.  We had to move all the furniture ourselves.  And yes basically it was piled in some place where they weren't replacing the carpet.  Is your downstairs all done is a single piece?  Otherwise I would consider just doing part of it at a time and storing the furniture in whatever part isn't being done, and then at some other point have them come back and do the other parts.

 

Thanks for replying.  The downstairs is just two bedrooms at each end of a tiled hallway, with a bathroom and small utility room in between.  No place to store furniture other than the "other" bedroom.  You may be right, even though I'd hate to pay them twice (seems like that would cost more than having it all done at once).

[gardenmom5]

it will all need to be removed in advance.  carpet layers don't move the furniture.  (moving furniture is another type of liability, and their employer doesn't cover it.)

as soon as it's installed, you can put everything back.

[Acorn]

When I had linoleum installed, I had different options to add moving appliances. 

[PeachyDoodle]

Can it go outside temporarily? When our carpet was replaced we moved our furniture into the garage. Carpet laying doesn't take very long so there is a good chance you could move it in the morning and have it back inside that evening. Any covered space should be fine as long as the weather isn't severely bad.

If you are at home when the carpet is laid, you can probably move everything into one room at first, then to the other room after the first is finished while the layers are prepping materials for the second room, or taking a lunch break. I would just discuss this with your carpet installer. They see a lot of this kind of thing and will have suggestions.

[lmrich]

The carpet installars handled all the furniture. I had to remove all breakable things and remove low hanging clothes from the closet. 

[Pawz4me]

It's been many years since we had new carpet installed in a house, but back then the installers moved all the furniture and put it back.

[Lecka]

Ours would move some things but not others.  They moved almost everything.

It was an extra cost.

They moved half the furniture and did half, then moved the furniture to the other side and did the other half.  This was with an upstairs and a basement.  I don’t remember exactly how it was scheduled, I think we did have a day or two with either the living room or family room full of furniture.  

[shawthorne44]

Plan on being there with a vacuum and an attachment.   The edge of the room will have dirt.    You'll want to get rid of that.  

[goldberry]

I remember there being an extra charge to move furniture, but it wasn't much. $100?  $150?  It was well worth it.

[AK_Mom4]

We hired a moving company to move everything to the garage. Since it didn’t involve storage or a truck, it was fairly cheap.  They moved it out on Tuesday, carpet installers came in Wednesday and did the whole house, then movers came back Thursday and put everything back. 

It was pretty painless even with a lot of furniture. The mover brought 3 young guys who emptied our house in about 3 hours

[Arcadia]

When we ask Lowe’s and Home Depot, they could tag on furniture removal to carpet installation service. We didn’t ask how much as we didn’t intend to do it then.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Thanks everyone.  I feel better about it all now.  I can see how several different options could work.