Recarpeting Church Need Advise On Pews And What To Charge.

iflooru

New forum member here, hope I can provide some insight down the road for others but I have a question for the forum tonight.
I'm going on a measurement next week of a decent size local catholic church which was built in the 50's. There are approx 22 rows of pews on each side of the sanctuary separated with an isle down the middle. The orange carpet that is there has been down since the 1970's. I believe the carpet was glued down over VCT, need to check. I'd like to see if anyone has done a re-do in a church. Carpet tiles would be great but need to quote the job using 12' solution dyed nylon commercial goods. The pews are bolted to the concrete floor. Can someone give me a ballpark on a reasonable charge to R&R the pews (44 total). I'm also worried about tear out of the old carpet. If there is indeed VCT down I'm worried about pulling tiles up and that whole headache. Any insight on doing carpet in a church would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance.

mdshunk

About 7 years ago, my own chruch was getting bids for new carpet in the sanctuary. There was quite a bit of trouble even finding a carpet dealer that would R&R the pews. The couple we did find wanted quite a premium (about 40% over an empty room). We (a few men in the church) ended up R&R'ing the pews ourselves. It was one of the most non-fun things I've ever done, particularly since the pews were arranged on an angle down each row. A good bit of measuring happened before they were removed.

Mike Costello

If that rug has been down since the 70s, I would be concerned that the tile underneath contains asbestos. Legally if it starts coming up with the rug your gonna need a licenced abatement team.

If you can sneak a peak at them somewhere , se if they are 9x9's or 12x12's. The samller tiles are almost always VAT...vinyl asbestos tile..Other than that we use to get a local college to do the test for us with a small chip of the tile.

As far as the pews, I would bid the work out at a thousand bucks and explain to the church that if they had some handy parishoners they may want to go that route to save some dough.

Demonseed

If the carpet is rubber back, you will have a problem, if not, they way to avoid popping the tiles is to cut it (the carpet) into 3 inch strips, a glass cutter would come in handy for that, or any fixed blade cutter. Check how the pews are bolted, if the bolts look clean, spray them with wd-40 and pop them off. Being that it is a church, tell them it would be much cheaper for them to remove the pews. That being said, I have to ask, it is a church that is putting carpet under the pews and not into the aisles? How big are the pews?

If the bolts come out with little effort, depending on the size, charge 50-100 per pew
Once you know more I can give more advice

iflooru

Thanks for advice, yes the carpet will be going wall to wall and under the pews/kneelers. Pews are, a wild guess, 20' long. I hope to look at it Tuesday. Thanks again.

Tmrrptr

Yep, here's your chance.
Offer them a great deal if they have a work party remove the pews AND the old carpet.
A congregation IS all about doing good things together!
r

747

ya those people will be thinking what did i sign up for here. This is a bust your but job.

Demal

With all the churches I have done, I have found that they love to recruit free work from there members. People that attend the church love to volunteer for hard labor, besides when you have 30 people, its ends up being pretty easy.

I just finished a church this week with 4000 ft VCT, and 1000 yards glue down carpet. It took my partner and I nine days to complete it, but the volunteer workers demo'd everything in one weekend. Man, it was nice to be done with that job...

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iflooru

I took some measurements, basically the sanctuary is 42x75. There are 46 wooden pews (two rows of 23) 14 feet long laying on top of studs. Looks like I need about 630 yards, the extra carpet is going on stairs, choir area, confessionals, waiting room and fill. I'm assuming there are 9x9's under the old glued down cut (not looped)commercial carpet which is still in decent shape. Other areas of the church have the green and white 9x9's so I have to assume. The suggestion of volunteer work for tearout and moving pews will be brought up but I need to quote the job with removal. I would think I need to add some sort of disclaimer in the quote to the effect of "if underlying tiles come up with carpet additional charges will incur". What sort of extra charges, if any, should I have? For installers do you think they would charge more than the typical glue down charge, if so how much? The idea of $50-$100 per pew seems reasonable. Any other tips from those like Demal who have done churchs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Demal

Make sure you do take a piece of that tile in to be tested for asbestos. If it has it...dont touch it. Have an ebatement crew bid the removal. I have a good friend of mine that lost a law suit for that. If it is asbostos free, the removal isnt that bad. As long as you have a machine. That is pretty cheep at the rental store. I cant really say what you should charge, just make sure you make it worth it....dump fees, back aches, etc....

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Demonseed

I would assume the existing tiles are asbestos, and put a disclaimer that if they are, the church would have to hire an asbestos Abatement crew to remove them if they begin to come up during the rip out. There is really no way YOU can add an extra charge to cover yourself in that case. You can try to cut the carpet into 3 inch strips, usually that keeps any old tile from popping, but at the same time there is no way to know that until you start the rip up. Since the carpet looks like it is relatively new, I would bet the rip up will not be easy.

If they want to use Volunteer help, do not even be on the jobsite, or mention that in the contract, if it happens. Basically have 2 quotes, one if the floor is ready to go (you do not know who did the abatement), one if you do it (the rip up), with the abatement clause.

It seems like no matter what happens, this job will be taking up alot of time, price it out by the hour, what you forsee as a worst case scenario time wise, and add a 15% cushion.



quote=iflooru;270343]I took some measurements, basically the sanctuary is 42x75. There are 46 wooden pews (two rows of 23) 14 feet long laying on top of studs. Looks like I need about 630 yards, the extra carpet is going on stairs, choir area, confessionals, waiting room and fill. I'm assuming there are 9x9's under the old glued down cut (not looped)commercial carpet which is still in decent shape. Other areas of the church have the green and white 9x9's so I have to assume. The suggestion of volunteer work for tearout and moving pews will be brought up but I need to quote the job with removal. I would think I need to add some sort of disclaimer in the quote to the effect of "if underlying tiles come up with carpet additional charges will incur". What sort of extra charges, if any, should I have? For installers do you think they would charge more than the typical glue down charge, if so how much? The idea of $50-$100 per pew seems reasonable. Any other tips from those like Demal who have done churchs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks![/quote]