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Carpet fitting. Actually, the most difficult
part of the job will be dragging the heavy roll of carpeting indoors.
Renting a few specialty carpet installation tools at a local tool rental
shop makes the job much easier. |
| In order to save as much as
possible, it is important to plan the installation to minimize the
amount of scrap carpet; and therefore, the amount that you have to buy.
Most wall-to-wall carpeting comes in rolls from 12 feet to 15 feet wide. |
| Make a scale drawing of the
floor plans of the rooms you want to recarpet. Note the location of
furniture, doors, etc. This will help you to determine the areas of
heaviest foot traffic. This is particularly important if the room is
large enough to require more than one piece of carpeting. It is wise to
always locate the seams in the areas of lightest traffic. |
| Once you rip up your old
carpeting and padding, check the condition of the subfloors. Have one of
your heaviest children walk over the floor. Nail the subfloor securely
down to the joists if you hear any squeaks. If you have a basement, go
into it and look up to see if the floor flexes anywhere when your child
walks. |
| The first step in installing
wall-to-wall carpeting is to nail down tack strips along the edges of
the floor. These are four-foot long thin wood strips with many sharp
gripper tacks sticking up. The tacks in these strips dig into the back
of the carpeting and hold it taut and securely to the floor. Space them
out about two-thirds the thickness of the carpeting. |
| Cut and lay out the padding
on the floor. It should cover the entire floor area. If you need more
than one piece, butt the edges together and tape them with duct tape.
Staple the padding to the subfloor about every foot along the edge of
the tack strip. Use the utility knife to trim the edge of the padding so
that it just touches the tack strip edge. |
| Measure the room carefully
and add about three inches to determine the carpet size. Cut-pile
carpeting is cut from the back and loop-pile from the front. To make
seams, overlap two pieces of carpet. Cut along the edge of the top piece
down through the bottom piece. |
| Lay a length of hot-melt
seaming tape halfway under the edge of the two pieces. Hold up the edge
of one piece of carpet and run the seaming iron under the other piece
and over the tape. As you move the iron, have a helper press the carpet
edges into the sticky tape. |
| Adjust the carpet so that it
rests evenly on the floor. Use the knee kicker to attach the carpet to
the tack strip in one corner and work your way across that edge. Brace
the power stretcher against that wall and stretch the carpet toward the
opposite wall. Attach the stretched carpet to the tack strip on the
opposite end of the floor. |
| Trim the carpet along the
wall with the utility knife. Use a Carpet
Tuck. to push
the edge of the carpet down into the gap between the tack strip and the
wall. |
| Tools and materials
required: Knee kicker, Carpet
Tuck, hammer, staple gun, utility knife, marking
pencil, straightedge, screwdriver, pliers, chalkline, binder bars,
carpeting, tack strips, seaming tape, duct tape |
