When replacing carpet, how much must I DIY?

The carpet in my house is showing signs of age. I'd like to replace it, but all the rooms are fully furnished with big, heavy furniture, e.g. chests of drawers, king-size & queen-size beds, etc. I know I can lighten the load somewhat by removing drawers from chests, but don't know what else to do to prepare.

I can't remember the last time I had to replace carpet in a non-empty house - probably never. Do carpet installers take care of moving the furniture around or is this something I'd have to handle myself prior to installation? Can carpet be properly installed without stretching or wrinkling if heavy furniture is placed on it when it's brand new?

 

Of course they will move it but your going to pay for the labor.

Best option is to have an empty room so carpet can be installed properly.

But then again, everybody now hates carpet, wood is the new carpet!

 

OP back to answer my own question with... "it depends."

Here are screen grabs from 2 different flooring installers' sites. Guess which one I'm going with.

Installer 1:


Installer2:

 

Time is money, want to save a ton, have an empty room for them to work in.
Once there done with that room, move it back in and they can move onto the next one.
There's no way to stretch it with heavy furniture sitting on it.

 

Just like any work, the more labor involved, the more it costs. Just make sure if the installer is moving the furniture that they have insurance to cover damage. In many areas, installers are not required to have any insurance of any kind.

 

To close this out, the guys came last week and moved all the heavy furniture outdoors through a handy double door while they installed the carpet. They were good at lifting heavy things. Not so good at reconnecting things (tv cable, Ethernet, dryer vent) behind the replaced heavy things. But it's all good now. It was worth paying for the labor. Thanks for the replies.