Installing flooring in the 80s had its ups and downs. It was common to carpet bathrooms, kitchens, and dining rooms in the 60’s and 70’s. The 80s started the trend of getting away from doing so, eventually putting a screeching halt to the practice. No longer do we get a call to carpet a bathroom!
On this particular job, we were called to remove the dining room carpet and install vinyl flooring. The homeowner had small children and was tired of the food hitting the carpet. I’m sure constantly cleaning peanut butter, Kool-Aid, spaghetti sauce, spilled milk, and everything else was exhausting. The musty smell the carpet gave off caused the homeowner to realize it needed to be replaced. No amount of cleaning made a difference. It was time for a change.
Upon arrival, we recognized the typical smell of carpet that was overdue for replacement. We assured the homeowner all would be well once they had their new vinyl flooring. With that, we started moving the hutch, the chairs, and the dining room table. It was time to remove the carpet.
Folding it in half, we sliced the carpet into manageable sizes to carry out of the house. The padding was also pretty bad, so we rolled it up and were shockingly surprised at what we found. In disbelief, we carefully carried the padding out of the house and asked the homeowner to meet us back in the dining room.
With the homeowner to witness, we took a prybar and dug into the 2 inches of sand that had accumulated under the carpet and padding. In the sand were worms, regular garden worms. Most were small, about an inch or so, but some were up to 3 inches long. We carried out about 10 buckets of sand from the dining room with a shovel supplied by the homeowner. It was easy to assess how so much sand got under the carpet. Every time it rained, water would leak under the glass sliding door in the dining room and bring the dirt and sand in. Over the years, the accumulation continued to build. They had a worm farm growing under their carpet! I’m sure the food dropping on the carpet added to the worm diet! This was a first! And, in 43 years, never seen again!
