How to Install Carpet All by Yourself

Probably the most challenging do-it-yourself flooring jobs you'll ever encounter is installing carpet. Everybody seems to be afraid of the idea of installing carpet, thinking that it's over and above their expertise. This can be mainly a result of the specific tools needed. But, installing carpet is really a pretty simple do-it-yourself flooring job and by doing the work on your own, it can save you quite a lot of cash in installation expenses.


What You Need to Install Carpet
Installing carpet does indeed call for a few specialized tools such as the following:

• seam iron
• seam roller
• knee stretcher
• power stretcher
• wall trimmer, and
• stair tool

But these tools may be rented from the nearby rental shop. This is certainly a lot more economical compared to buying the tools. Additionally, you will need the following:

• hammer
• tack strips (also referred to as tackless strips)
• carpet knife
• staple gun or hammer stapler, and
• carpet seam tape

Readying the Floor for Carpet Installation
It's extremely significant to ready the floor thoroughly prior to installing carpet. Carpet may be installed above concrete, wood, or even linoleum. But, in case the flooring is broken, it is advisable to take out or change the broken subflooring. Invest time to fix any squeaks in the floor caused by loosened planks.

The subflooring must be cleaned completely just before installing the carpet. You wouldn't want any kind of dust or dirt beneath which often can ruin the underlay and the carpet. You must take out any floor registers and when you've got doors that swing in to the room, it's better to take off the doors and not attempt to deal with them.

Putting in the Underlay
Prior to putting in the underlay, you will have to add tack strips on the sides of the walls and all over floor register openings. Never install the tack strips in front of door openings. These strips must be installed around 1/4" from your wall with the tacks leaning on the wall. The majority of tack strips have already got nails included for nailing on the floor. In case you have a cement floor, you might want to glue the strips down with a masonry adhesive.

The next task is to roll out the underlay, starting off on one wall. Overlap the tack strips by roughly 3-4 inches, ensuring that the underlay stays even and straight with no bunching. Work with a staple gun or hammer stapler to attach the underlay on the carpet, putting a staple every 6 inches approximately. Should you have a concrete floor or maybe don't want to ruin the base floor, you may use adhesive to install the underlay.

You may use duct tape on the seams to keep them from bunching once you install the carpet. Once you have done the underlay installing, make use of a utility or carpet knife to cut the underlay along the tack strips, ensuring the underlay doesn't overlap the strips. Eliminate any floor register openings along the tack strips too.

Installing Carpet
Roll the carpet out in the space, once again starting off on one wall and leaving 3-4 inches of overlap on the walls. Be sure to keep your carpet straight and also be very careful never to let the underlay to bunch up underneath the carpet. Cut out the floor register openings, likewise leaving a couple of inches of overlap over the tack strips.

Should you have a few portion of carpet, you'll need to make a seam. Put seam tape underneath the seam with the adhesive side up. Heat the seam iron and after that beginning on wall, put the iron right on the seam tape till the adhesive melts and press both edges of carpet on the tape. Make use of a seam roller as well as other smooth weighty thing to press the seam together and into your adhesive. Follow this procedure on the whole seam, working on a small area at a time.

Starting up in one corner, make use of the knee stretcher to install the carpet on the tack strip. Put the head of the kicker several inches from the wall and kick the pad forcefully using your knee. Continue this procedure every 6-8 inches on the wall. As soon as that's finished, we're going to utilize the power stretcher to install the carpet on the other walls. Put one end of your power stretcher on the wall you just finished and the head of the stretcher on the opposing wall, around 4-6 inches from the wall. After you push the lever down, the carpet is stretched over the tack strips. Do this again on the whole wall and also the other walls. Make use of the knee kicker to stretch out the carpet over the tacks on any floor register openings.

Once the carpet is attached with each of the tack strips, make use of the wall trimmer to remove the excess carpet along the wall. It will keep sides straight and provides us a close trim. By using a stair tool or stiff putty knife, put the sides of the carpet under the baseboard on the wall.

Lastly, install door edge strip in doorways to hide the carpet edge and create a transition to the next room. Change your register covers and you're finally done!

Perhaps you have realized that installing your own carpet could be easier than you think if you've got the proper tools and guidelines. And once you're planning on your upcoming do-it-yourself flooring job, never avoid carpet because of installation expenses. Do the installation on your own and stretch your budget!

You may want to check out related articles by Floorwise:

• How to Keep Carpets Clean and Looking New