Jan, I'd be willing to throw in some money to help you get some carpeting. Is it just one room? You can get remnants really cheap.

I'm wondering if you could have the county health inspector come in and identify what kind of stuff is in that black dust. We wouldn't want you getting sicker by having it exposed after pulling up the old carpet Just guessing, the attached padding is most likely black so hopefully it's not some disgusting kind of mold.