My gf wants to replace the carpet at our place without hiring

Pull up the carpet

Install hardwood floors

Some large hardware stores hold workshops on tasks like installing floors. As for the carpet, you can figure that out. I cut it into smallish sections for easy movement.

you will need a utility knife to cut the carpet into smaller sections, a hammer to remove tack strips (also known as gripper rod (UK), carpet gripper, Smoothedge (Can), tackless strip, and gripper edge) is a thin piece of wood, between 1 to 2 metres (3.3 to 6.6 ft) long and about 3 centimetres (1.2 in) wide, studded with hundreds of sharp nails or tacks used in the installation of carpet. - wikipedia )

installing hardwood floors isn't even that complicated either.
you can get this project done in a day.

Beneath the carpet is foam and under that is concrete. Is that the subfloor? What's a joist?

>>938834

That's a whole different story. Installing hardwood over concrete isn't a great idea anyway, but as long as it's going to stay dry, go ahead.

You'll want to put some material down to separate the wood from the concrete or it will eventually absorb water from the slab and buckle/curl. They sell shit that is like hard plastic bubble wrap at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. It's not cheap.

>>938862
I pulled up softwood floors in a house with a concrete floor. I laughed so hard. they used black trashbags.. and the irony is, they'd been there for the last 15 years, and the only reason why it was being torn up was because it was some really crappy pine that got destroyed by the feet of the dogs that live there before...

so Idk, use trashbags instead...

>>938862
Its OK idea, I have one at home, lasted more than 20 years so far.
Thing is if the concrete slab is not RIGHT on the ground you are going to be ok and no moisture will damage the wood, so if there is even few inches of space, either between the wood floor and the concrete or between the ground and the concrete everything will be just fine.

>>938862
>>938865
>>938879
Also, at home, its spaced with just threatened 2x4's and there is bran for insulation and (i guess) moisture absorbing.

>>938730
Do you have a timber subfloor frame? Is your house built on a concrete slab?

Pulling up carpet is pretty easy, you just cut it with a Stanley knife and then yank on it. Then you'll want to remove all the crap that's under there. Having the right tools could be pretty useful depending on what you've got under there, but they are surprisingly expensive.

Putting down hardwood floors isn't hard. If you have a timber subfloor frame and floorboards all you have to do is sand and finish them and you're done. If you have a concrete slab you'll want to put down something to keep your new floor off the concrete, then depending on clearance height it may be easy enough to just lay hardwood flooring, or install a floating floor system.

>>938897
I cut a small hole in the carpet. Under the carpet is foam and concrete beneath that

>>938730

>My gf wants to replace the carpet at our place without hiring someone. Can someone explain how to pull up the carpet and replace it with hardwood floors. The online how to's don't really make much sense to me.

My mother installed hardwood floors in our house when I was 13. My mother is a nurse. She is by no means a DIYer and this was years before I started doing shit with my hands. Certain times she just refuses to pay for certain things she considers "egregious". The labor for installing hardwood floors was one of them.

She learned by watching a friend. Find a friend or ask someone on Craigslist if you can come assist to learn.

She literally watched her friend do it, bought all the shit, installed it on her own, and it was good to go. She sold that house in 2003. It was just foreclosed. We went back just to see how the house looked. Aside from scratches, the floors were still in great shape.

If my mom can do it, you have no excuse.

The online guides says that I need to nail down the floorboards so do I have to put down plywood first?

>>939070
the traditional way do have it be is either plywood, osb, or wood strips at a diagonal as a subfloor, then hardwood planks nailed to the subfloor.

a floating floor, is planks (usually tongue and groove) which are glued, snapped together, or nailed to each other only. because solid wood will expand and contract slightly, and these boards are attached only to each other, you should only use engineered hardwood (basically hardwood plywood strips. the only downside is if they warp or get fucked up, you can't sand them down and refinish them like you can solid hardwood. well, if you get non-shitty ones. shitty ones have an mdf core, instead of solid wood layers all the way through)

as other's have said, concrete is an issue with wood, because concrete absorbs and holds moisture very well, and wood... rots.
So I would suggest tearing up all the carpet and padding down to concrete, putting down something like http://www.homedepot.com/p/DRIcore-7-8-in-x-2-ft-x-2-ft-DRIcore-Subfloor-Panel-CDGNUS750024024/202268752
or other similar thing.

otoh, if there's already carpet there, it's generally not prone to dampness or the carpet would already be fucked. so ymmv.

>>939054
Okay the thing you probably don't want to do is just fix your timber flooring to the concrete. It's really tempting but just don't.

Reason being that concrete is porous and water will get your new floorboards.

There's things you can put down to make a waterproof barrier, but it's much better to just install a floating floor.

Yeah I know I have to put down a water barrier but do I have to nail it?

>>939251
I depends on the type of barrier, and that depends on your house and what existing waterproofing there is of the concrete. If your house is less than thirty years old the entire slab is likely wrapped in polythene anyway, however concrete retains a lot of moisture and large slabs take decades to dry out even partially.

There's membranes that you can paint on like those crystal lattice type things. In my country we have a brand called cemix who makes a product called aquastop whose job is specifically to stop rising damp. If you call up your version of home depot, or maybe the sika helpline, they are international aren't they? They'll be able to point you in the right direction.

Otherwise yes you can just put down polythene under your floor, the only thing is that's not permanent. And you definitely don't want to pull up your floor once it's down.