Hi have recently purchased a condo with berber carpeting and plan to replace it with laminate or cork floors. How easy is this to do? i.e. tearing out the carpet and installing. Do I need to do anything to the concrete floor beneath the carpet?
I've never done this before and don't want to start tearing if it is going to be a nightmare.
Thanks!
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Tearing out carpet is no biggie if you cut the carpet first(mostly you just get disgusted with the dirt you see under it and wonder why anyone would have carpet). Check with your municipality because they may have limits for regular garbage pick up. Here they will take it if the rolls do not exceed 48' wide so that pretty much tells you who wide to cut the carpet. Just get a good blade and rip through the stuff then pull it up and roll it. It will only be attached at the walls and generally only with carpet strips which are small tacks. So no major tools required other than getting the tack strips up later and a crowbar will do that.
Since you have cement the underlay could be an issue. I don't know if they would glue it down or not. On normal wood they staple it. You might want to ask the bldg mrg what they know about how it is attached so you can figure out what sort of problem it will be to remove.
Meanwhile, before you do anything find out what the condo rules are. As I understand it many specify the type of underlay on hard flooring to keep noise down between units so you will have to deal with that. They may or may not have specifications for types of floors too. Cork is quieter than laminate but as far as putting it it, they are the same, both are just click and lock.