My wife and mother-in-law decided to lay carpet themselves in the room I freshly repainted. My mother-in-law had experience laying carpet before but it has been over a dozen years and she can't quite remember how she is supposed to do it.
I've done some quick searching but don't have time to continue the search right now (and they're not internet savvy like me).
Does anybody know of a good guide online that details how to lay carpet. We have the carpet, and underlay and the tackless strips and all that jazz. The confusion is how to lay the strips. Any site with good details and or pictures or videos would be great.
Thanks in advance for your help!
The room was painted red & white (Calgary Flames red). I'll probably post a couple of pictures once the room is done.
Is it normal pile or berber? And will there be a seam anywhere? I've been told that installing berber with a seam is much more difficult to do properly.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Biggest thing to watch in a fresh painted room is how you lay the carpet into the room. The back of the carpet can easily scratch the walls.
I can gladly give you some tips but need some more info. Like what kind of surface are you laying on? Concrete, subfloor? What are you tying the room into... carpet, lino, tile? What is the shape of the room? Closets? Like another poster said, seams? or will one run do it?
Also, tackless? is it some kind of adhesive strip? How thick is your baseboard in the room? Sometimes with thicker baseboard you can give yourself some breathing room by not having to place the strips so close to the walls.
tackless stips, as I've read is the strips of wood that you nail into the floor that have a bunch of tacks/nails sticking up. Not sure why it was called tackless strip but I guess it is sometimes called tack strip too.
It is being tied into lino. It is being layed into lino. It is in the basement so it is cement directly under the lino.
The previous flooring in the room was also carpet on top of that lino... want to hear how it was installed? The underlay was duct taped to the floor close to the four corners of the room. The carpet was just sitting on top, the baseboards were probably the only thing keeping the carpet in place. I could tell it was pretty loose when we move in. Six years later I discovered why.
As I've had a bit of time to look around, I'm fearing how well it will be installed. Mostly because we don't have a carpet stretcher. Not sure how my mother-in-law was planning on doing that part. Oh well, it is only one room, will look 100x better than before the painting & re-carpeting and we saved $200 by not having the pros do it.
Did you buy the regular strip? Because if you're laying this on concrete it won't work, instead you should use a strip that doesn't have nails to hammer into the floor. Buy some tack track (green contact cement, basically) and use that to secure the strip to the concrete. Then install a metal channel at the spot where you'll be transitioning to the lino. This is where you'll install a vinyl cap to finish off the transition.
Once the strip is in, it's time to install the pad. You're obviously going to have seams in your pad, so I would suggest you use carpet glue (I'm sure something else will work, but that's what we use) to secure the edges of the pad to the concrete. Then it's probably best to place some tape over the seams. This should prevent the pad from ever buckling over itself.
Once the pad is down, lay out the carpet. This is a bedroom, you said, so hopefully you won't need a seam. Start kicking in the carpet by kicking towards the wall, and then tucking the carpet under the baseboard. There's a specific way that you're supposed to kick the carpet in, but I can't seem to find a diagram on the internet, and I don't feel like drawing it out for you. Basically, just make sure you try to kick the carpet in evenly so that you don't twist the carpet.
Once you're satisfied that the carpet is stretched enough, install your vinyl cap and you're done.
Hope that's enough.
-Edit- A kicker costs about 10 bucks to rent from Home Depot. You can't install carpet without a kicker. I suggest you kick it in, as opposed to your mother in law doing it.
V's got it down. Only other "hints" I'd pass on to a first timer would be to lay out the carpet in the room and cut it in before you put the tack strips and underlay down.. Makes it easier to move it into place while you trim it up.
EDIT: Also, this is really important to do if it's in a basement as most of the walls aren't exactly square. So if you measure the walls and cut in another room you can find big gaps when you go to lay it in.
If the tack strips have nails to hammer into the ground like this...
Then just pull out the nails, get some P700 (or another really strong adhesive good for wood surfaces) and just glue them down **make sure the tacks point towards the wall at all times**. However if you are gluing straight to the lino then make sure to take some sandpaper and take the sheen off the lino in the area's you need tack stripping on.
Set the stripping about 1/4 to 1/2 inch out from the drywall and border the entire room with it. Distance really depends on how big the baseboard is because if it's too big then you end up with a gap, and too small means you won't be able to stretch it properly as the carpet will just hit the wall.
...and yeah, rent a kicker from home depot. Cheap and you really do need it. When kicking make sure to control your kicking. I mean boot it good but make sure after each kick you are looking around the room and seeing how the carpet is responding.
Last thing is about the closet, definitely leave it for last and also give yourself a good 4-6 inches of overlap from your main room into the closet. Makes it easier to tie it in later. That little piece in there will be the biggest problem. My advice would be to cheat and buy some carpet glue and some rubber underlay. Glue the underlay right to the ground and say to hell with the strips in the closet. Then glue that piece of carpet right to the underlay.
In my basement I just bought some burber from Home Depot that had built in underlay. Then glued the sucker right to the basement floor. If it's not to late for that then that is what I recommend. For that you will need a roller though instead of a kicker.
Well, it was a crazy weekend and the carpet didn't get layed. My sister-in-law made a surprise visit to town so my wife was at her mother's all of Friday. Then on saturday my mother-in-law fell down 14 stairs, shattering her wrist and breaking a bone in her shoulder, among numerous other smaller injuries. So the carpet layer (mother-in-law) was out of commission and her assistant (my wife) was suddenly an assisting in non-carpet laying duties. So, I undertook the job by myself and laid the carpet tonight.
Thanks for the advice guys. I did a pretty darn good job if I do say so myself (at least for a 1st timer). Certainly not a professionally laid carpet but it looks good. I know that carpet layers will get a job to do, and go home when that job is done whether it is noon or 5:00pm. After laying just one room I understand why. When you don't have to do a full day you REST YOUR KNEES. I've got bad knees to begin with so being on my knees while I get the carpet in, and then using the knee banger thingamajiggy after my knees were already tired... I'm gonna be a wreck tomorrow! It is satisfying to see the room though and know that I did all the work (expect for the shoddy dry-walling which a previous owner did... should've completely redone the room, oh well).
Next time I have carpet to lay I'm going to find me some mormon missionaries and offer them a burger and soda.
I laid floors for 7 summers from about Grade 10 till I was out of university. My knees are shot now, and if I help a buddy kick a bedroom in, I can't walk for a week and a half. Some folks can do it, others can't. My dad finally had to quit when he was 35 and had multiple surgeries on both knees. My uncle, on the other hand, is 50 something and does it no problem.
Oh, and my wife did buy the regular strips so I attempted to nail it into the concrete... with success. I actually did the strips on the weekend and the rest of the job on Tuesday night.
Few weeks ago we were renovating our living room and bedroom and also laid new carpets. After a long struggle my girlfriend and me agreed on cormar carpets which look beautiful and are soft but not easy to lay. Finally, with the help from my father we managed to lay it and are very happy with the result.
Oh, and my wife did buy the regular strips so I attempted to nail it into the concrete... with success. I actually did the strips on the weekend and the rest of the job on Tuesday night.
I hope you dont have infloor heating in your basement slab.
Laying Carpet (old bumped thread)
