Update the third

[desperance]

These spiky grippers-of-staircarpet? Are actual laths of wood nailed to the stairs, with nasty spikes sticking up. They're going to require serious toolwork to lift. Lawks.

ETA: two of them per stair, one on the riser and one on the tread, each running almost the full width of the staircase, each held in place with half a dozen screw-threaded nails for extra grip. Sheesh. I have liberated one stair, and am pausing there to go fry bhajis, make tea and watch movie.

Comments

[davidbarnett.livejournal.com]

Hammer, chisel, sweat and plasters should do it.

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

John says long prybar, leather gloves.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Does not has.

Has cold chisel and claw-hammer, as per previous.

Also now has scratches...

[lagilman]

coming by late, but I used a long-handled screwdriver (flat head) and a hammer to lift carpet-staples. Long nasty job, but the floor underneath was worth it.

[owlfish]

Carpet grippers: my one relevant story

Our landlady in Toronto was having our carpet replaced, all down the hallways and up two flights of stairs. Midway through the two professionals doing their work with power tools, the Great Blackout of 2003 happened. NE America and much of SE Canada was electricity-less.

We lived by candlelight and sun. We grilled defrosting meat from the cooling freezer on the grill outside on the deck. And we walked very, very carefully up and down the stairs, where bare carpet grippers lurked to snare unwary heels and toes. Suddenly, wearing shoes in the house became a sensible thing to do. But imagine: going down the stairs from bedroom to bathroom in the middle of the night, navigating the dangers of carpet grippers by candlelight alone.

With no electricity, the workers could not work, and did not for another week. Parts of the city had power back with in a day. Our local substation suffered a fault, so it was a full four days before our power was restored. Four nights of candlelight and bare carpet grippers.

At least we weren't trying to take ours out.