Woman Renovating House Pulls Up Carpet, Unprepared for What’s Underneath

A woman renovating her 1960s home got a nasty surprise when she started pulling up the old carpet in her new hallway.

Tara, from the U.K., purchased her new house back in April from a senior couple who had lived there for 50 years. A month later, she was already busy at work renovating the property. “I have always wanted to do a renovation,” Tara told Newsweek. “I like the idea of bringing something old back to life, and I also think it’s a smart financial move if done right.”

A home renovation does not come cheap with costs ranging from $19,500 to $88,400 for most homeowners in the U.S., according to figures calculated by the home services website Angi.

Keeping things at the lower end of that scale is no easy feat, and just one of the many challenges Tara has had to face as she tries to turn her renovation dream into a reality.

“The biggest challenge so far has been scheduling tradesmen in and getting the jobs done in the correct order,” Tara said. “Another challenge has been finding out just how expensive renovations can be as the cost of materials and labor has gone up so much over the last few years.” 

Tara said she has had to think on her feet and a lot of her plans have had to change. She has also taken on much of the renovation work herself to save money. “I have found it challenging doing a lot alone; physically, a lot of jobs require two people, or a decent amount of strength,” Tara said.

She is not entirely alone on the project though. Tara has been posting about her efforts on TikTok, under the handle @the.millenial.mess, and Instagram as @taralian_, with the clips of her various ongoing projects around the house proving popular with viewers. “I always film my DIY-ing as I am documenting the process on TikTok and Instagram and enjoy sharing the process and getting tips from people,” Tara said.

It is a learning curve and one that has already sprung plenty of surprises, as Tara recently discovered after posting a video online of herself pulling up the old carpet that had been out in the hallway for decades. “The quote I got for new flooring had extra charges for removing the old carpet and the parquet tiles underneath, so I decided to save some money wherever possible by stripping that all out myself,” she said.

Within minutes of uploading a video of herself removing the tiles to her Instagram story, things took an unexpected turn. “I was inundated with messages from people telling me that it is likely the black layer underneath the parquet tiles contained asbestos,” Tara said.

Asbestos is a fibrous material that was previously used in building materials due to its resistance to fire, heat and corrosion. Its use was banned in many countries around the turn of the millennium amid concerns that the fibers, when airborne, could result in potentially fatal lung diseases if inhaled.

Tara said that, when she first saw the messages warning her, she was “a bit panicked.” “It had been dusty, and then I was convinced I could feel a weird tingling sensation in my throat and nose,” she said.

Thankfully, Tara says that ended up being little more than her imagination running “wild.” She has since been reassured by others on social media, including some builders and surveyors, that, even if asbestos is present, it would be “low levels and low risk,” though some lingering doubts remain. Tata said she has nevertheless learned a valuable lesson. “I have since learned how many products asbestos was used in,” she added. “It’s crazy.”

Thankfully, it hasn’t deterred Tara from continuing her renovation project. “It’s not put me off doing more but has made me aware of the importance of wearing a protective mask when disturbing anything in old houses as you just don’t know what materials were used,” Tara said.