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Question from Judith Wisdom

I’m living in an apartment that is about 40 years old. The original flooring was traditional linoleum. Most people have had it covered with various types of carpet, though some have put down wood floors of various sorts.

I can’t afford to buy new flooring but felt that getting rid of the carpeting (that itself is quite old)would surely make for a healthier environment. I had the carpet and its underpadding (looks like corrugated cardboard) removed in the living room.

It took my paying someone who’s very efficient and careful at least three four-hour sessions to get the floor clean (i.e., the original linoleum). The filth was unbelievable. Fortunately it was summer and I was able to keep the windows open and ran an exhaust fan constantly. The man who removed the carpet was supposed to do the same in the bedroom and just never showed up. So it’s still there.

I am much sicker now (many years later). I of course would love to remove the carpet in the bedroom but I don’t see how I could manage that since I so often must be in the bedroom. And also the amount of work it involved for me (the living room) is far more than I’m up to now.

However, were I to come up with a way to have the carpet and underpadding cut out in a way that I could reduce (dramatically) the filth it would be so good for me to live in a bedroom with no carpet at all. (I was thinking of affixing a drop cloth or two to the carpet; cuting it in sections; rolling it encased in the drop cloth but I will have to see what the person doing it thinks). Any ideas? They’d be much, much appreciated.

Debra’s Answer

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