I was in my new house less than two minutes before I started ripping up the carpet in the living room to expose the hardwood that I knew lay beneath. It only took me about ten minutes to get it all up, although it took me another twenty minutes to lug the carpet into the basement (carpet is surprisingly heavy for something that isn’t very thick).

Then I went a bit crazy and ripped up the carpet in the dining room/hall. That was not in the plans, but after I had lifted a corner to verify that there wasn’t hardwood underneath, I realized just how scuzzy the carpet was and the germophobe in me decided I would rather live with not entirely attractive linoleum than with the scum in the carpet.