Carpet Questions

krthomp33

Question for all you floor guys:

I am redoing a spare room over into my office, and it is time for the carpet. I have rem we got at HD, and I have the padding, now what is the best way to install the flooring so it wont creep and bubble. I was going to use tape on the padding, then tape on top of the padding, along with tack strips along the walls. The rem is big enough so no seams in the room.



Unless anyone is in Vermont and wants to make some cash

kodiak_island

whats the specs on the room?

krthomp33

The room is 11' x 10', with plywood subfloor, that the previous owners painted. I will put in baseboard trim after the carpet is in.

HTH

soxfan

Carpet's not really a DIYer thing I'm afraid. It requires many specialized tools and it can be very hard and even dangerous on the body. If you insist though...

Put the tackless down. Pins pointing towards the walls, and 1/4" away from the walls. Lay out the pad, stretch it by stapling one end down and walking it forward a bit if its the 'foamy' type, don't bother if its the grey 'fibery' type. leave a slight gap between the pad and tackless, you can cut it with a utility knife, and butt the seams together carefully so there's no overlaps or gaps. Make sure and staple it down all the way around and put extras along any seams. Then lay the piece out in the room so that there's extra running up all of the walls.

Next, drive around the neighborhood until you come across a van with a roll of carpet hanging out of it or one that's labeled as a flooring company truck and ask the driver to pop in and knock the room out for you. Tell him what you've done and that you'll take care of the scraps and vacuuming and pay cash as soon as he's finished. Also mention that you'll put wood base up after, because that means he can trim it out about twice as fast. It should cost $100 or less.

By the book he should use a long tool that butts against one wall called a power stretcher to stretch, but irl its seldom done and rarely creates noticeable problems. It will effect just how long it lasts though, like an underinflated tire an understretched carpet won't handle traffic as well as one that's installed correctly.

You're honestly better off just calling a company and telling them to take care of everything though.

Mike Costello

You're honestly better off just calling a company and telling them to take care of everything though.



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