How to Glue Down Carpet to Concrete

If you wish to finish your basement remodeling project with carpet on the floor,  you will need to know how to glue down the carpet onto the existing concrete floor. With only a few basic tools and suggested steps, you can carpet a room with a bare concrete floor, even if you have little or no experience. Just follow these 7 simple steps.

Things you'll need:

• Concrete waterproofing paint
• Paint brush
• Polyethylene plastic sheeting
• Duct tape
• ½ inch plywood
• Tape measure
• Rotary saw
• Electric drill
• Concrete screws
• Tack strips
• Common nails
• Hammer
• Utility knife
• Staple gun
• 1 inch staples
• Knee kick stretcher

Step 1: Apply Waterproofing Paint

After sweeping the floor and removing all debris, coat the floor surfac with waterproofing paint. Allow 24 hours for the paint to dry. If humidity in the room is high, allow an extra day for drying. You can speed up drying and at the same time remove paint fumes if you open windows and place a few large fans near the windows to exhaust the air.

Step 2: Cover Floor with Plastic Sheeting

Lay a cover of plastic sheeting over the waterproofed floor. Use duct tape to seal seams in these sheets, and tape the sheeting to the floor at the edges. Be sure the tape doesn't cover wall trim, otherwise the tape will be exposed when the carpet has been laid.

Step 3: Lay Plywood

Next, you'll be laying sheets of plywood on top of the plastic, and since the plywood sheets will not perfectly fit the floor, you'll need to cut plywood pieces to fit in the irregular spaces. So, divide the room into squares that will be the same sizes as the plywood sheets you'll be laying. This will help you determine the size of the plywood pieces to be cut. When all sheets are cut, begin laying them on the plastic, one sheet at a time, until the entire floor is covered with plywood.

Step 4: Attach Plywood to the Floor

Using your drill, screw a  concrete screw through the plywood and into the concrete floor. Screws should inserted along the edges of the plywood every 12 inches.

Step 5: Attach Tack Strips

Using your hammer and nails, attach tack strips to the surface of the plywood along the edges of the wall.

Step 6: Attach Padding

Cut enough padding to cover the entire floor, then lay the padding in place and staple all padding corners and in the center of each padding piece. This will hold the pad in place while you're laying the carpet.

Step 7: Lay and Attach your Carpet

Lay out your carpet over the padding, keeping about 2 inches of carpet above the edges where wall meets floor. When the carpet is in place, begin cutting along the edges. If necessary, use a straightedge to insure that the cuts are straight. Then, tuck carpet edges into the wall-floor corners and below the botto edge of the baseboard. Be sure the carpet is pressed down onto the tack strips so that it is gripped by the strip nails. Use a knee kicker to stretch the carpet on the far side of the room from where you attached the first carpet edge. Finally, cut the excess carpet away at the edges.