Carpet Laying Tips

Bozzy

Found this on the DIY Chat room, very amusing.

Good tips to install a new carpet!!
If you want to install a new carpet then here is the procedure & some tips which can be helpful for you...

Start by vacuuming the old carpet to avoid breathing in all that dust, then cut up the carpet into strips which makes for an easier disposal. Remove the molding around the floor in order to take off the doors to have enough space to move the old carpet out and bring in the new one in. Pull the carpet off the tackless strips and start rolling it up in sections.


Remove all tackless strips and dispose of them along with the old carpet. Vacuum the floor to make it ready to receive the new carpeting. Start installing the new tackless strips around the border of the room; be careful not to install any at the entrance ways.


Leave a ½ space between the strips and the wall and make sure those tackless strips and securely butted against each other. Start laying the under pad strips down so that they overlap the tackless strips and make sure that they are butted snugly against each other, now start stapling the underlay along the inside edge of the tackless strips.


You will have to trim off any excess underlay along the inside of the tackless strip and seal the seams with some duct tape.
To begin laying the carpet start with a piece that overlaps the edge of the floor approximately four to six inches, this excess will be trimmed late on to allow the carpet to fit properly. Measure the room at it's longest point and add about six inches to that measurement then cut your section to fit that measurement.


Place a mark on the back of the carpet on both edges using this same measurement and join the two marks with a chalk line. Now fold the carpet over and cut through the backside of your carpet. When you have finished cutting the carpet place a piece of seaming tape on the floor underneath where they join and make sure that it lines up exactly in the center where they are joined.


Check to make sure that the adhesive side of the tape is facing up and use a seaming iron to heat up the adhesive and activate it, and then butt the edges together and seal the seams with a carpet roller. Now you will have to use that knee kicker that you probably rented to attaché the carpet.
Position the toothed end of the knee kicker approximately three inches away from the wall and push down with your keen into the padded end of the knee kicker. This action will allow the carpet to stretch over the tackless strip where the tacks will grab and hold it into position.


It is now time to change from the knee kicker to the carpet stretcher to finish the carpet installation. Position one end of the carpet stretcher against the wall where the carpet is already installed and place the other end of the carpet stretcher approximately six inches away from the far wall, then push on the activations lever to stretch the carpet over the tackless strip near the far wall.


Continue this action until the carpet has been fully installed, and remember to trim the carpet nearest the wall with a wall trimmer. Almost done, now use a stair tool, to tuck the carpet down into the gap between the tackless strips and the wall, and be sure and trim the carpet at the front of the doorway so that the edge is centered under the door, which should be in a closed position, and install the edge strips on the door.


One more step and you're all done cut any necessary vent openings and install the molding on the baseboards and that's it you are all done.
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Floordude

I could pick that apart.

The tackstrip gap to the wall or baseboard, should be the thickness of the carpet, but no greater then 3/8". It talks nothing about seams. The standard is 3" added to each cut, not 6", you can net fit the widths, if a selvage edge is not attached. Cushion should be stretched and then stapled. Taped seams is optional. It actually will show across traffic areas as the cushion is compressed over the years, the taped area does not, telegraphing the hump to be seen.... I could go on and on.

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Demonseed

They forgot to remind the DIY'er, to make sure the carpet is fuzzy side up.

genecarp

TIP #1, hire a good carpet guy

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Floordude

Ya, put a gold bar across a doorway in a multi million dollar home!!! See where that gets you!! It might work in a trailer house, but not my house and definitely no my clients.

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Mike Costello

You call it gold bar....I call it seam sealer

kreed

From some of the nearly-new houses I've seen, I don't think many of my local builders even know what a carpet stretcher is.

JerJer78

Remove the molding around the floor in order to take off the doors.

Whats you talkin 'bout willis???

jtpro

Makes sense to me as I've OFTEN ran into the problem of base trim interfering with the hinge pins! Two thumbs up on the stretcher though MOST guys use knee kicks only because it's quicker. Although some guys are AWESOME with them VERY few have I seen can get a good stretch with them.( I'd rather save my knees for standing up!)

I also thought duct tape went out in the early '90's and was replaced with pad glue along with sometimes stapling the seam on a wood sub floor.

And what about checking the stretch with the .25 "snap back" rule? or how about depending on the quality of the carpet that within 6 months (when the carpet relaxes) you might have to do a re stretch?

I like the Step 1: Hire a PRO! as the saying goes...."You can pay me to do it right the first time or.....you can pay me DOUBLE to fix your FK UP!

jtpro

Oh and "Tackless strip"? never heard of it. If the old TACK strip is in good condition why remove it? and don't forget the angled tacks go TOWARDS the wall!!!!!

rusty baker

Good for a laugh, if not so sad. Makes me wonder why I have thousands invested in tools and countless hours in training.

Floordude

When tackstrip first came out, it was called tackless, because you no longer had to use tacks to hold the carpet tight and stretched, leaving dimples in the face around the perimeter. The term spitting tacks, comes from the carpet industry.

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mack9110000

In the UK that would be the upholstery industry,many of the older carpet fitters,I knew, were upholsterers by trade.I can remember those guys with a mouthful of tacks (jimsies) and a magnetic hammer.I'm happy to see the end of those good ol days.
mack.

ian@prosource

now you are bringing back memorys,

Wilton Royal (the original company) used to teach fitters to lay a line of chalk around the perimiter, lay the carpet into the chalk to get a edge line then cut one inch above the line to allow turn & tack after sealing all the cut edges

In some old stately homes that were preserved and opened to the public, in order to preserve the historic value of the home i did fit carpets that required them to be turned & tacked and i also used pin & socket. hand sew seams and also hand sew Bull nose steps. all in body width carpet.

makes my fingers sore just thinking about it

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ScaryLari

Yah you never want to remove the tack strip esp in concrete i been i a few basements I had to ardex then glue and nail the strip back in place because some homeowner wanted new lol.

and to say to leave it 1/2 in away from the wall well lets just say i hope u like bubbles depending on the carpet of course.

And best thing said was hire a good carpet installer.

floorme

uuummmm.... not sure what to say, tape the seams if the pad has a moisture barrier. DO NOT take up good tack strip. Call me when you need the job done right...