INSTALLING CARPET

I WANT TO INSTALL CARPET MYSELF. I'M USING PADDING AND TACKLESS ALONG WALLS. HOW AND WHERE DO I START THE JOB?

 

install tackless approximately 3/8 in from wall
cut pad to tack strip and staple down
lay carpet in room
hook 3/4 of one wall starting in corner
stretch away from that wall across room at slight angle
hooking the carpet behind the tackstrip as you go until
you reach the point where the carpet isn't hooked behind
you
go to the corner where you first started
hook that wall all the way to the end
now you have 3 walls almost completed
turn and stretch to the remaining wall
finish the two corners and you're done
you will need a power stretcher
this isn't as easy as it sounds
you may want to call a pro

 

Wood floors are easier to nail tackstrip then concrete!! It should be no further away from the wall, more then your finger between the baseboard and tackstrip, or the carpet won't tuck properly. Some really thin carpets require even less gap between the baseboard and tackstrip.

Roll the padding out, cutting it slightly long on the length. Staple if it is wood subfloor, or glue with padding glue if it is concrete. Now trim down the pad right behind the the tackstrip. Depending on what the pad thickness and density is, on how close to keep it back off the tackstrip so the carpet will grip the tackstrip better.

Get the carpet positioned squarely in the room, and hopefully about an 1½" long up each wall(makes stretching easier). If there is a doorway and you need to seam onto existing carpet, do so with hotmelt seam tape and a seaming iron. Let it cool off about 10-15 minutes.

With a powerstretcher, pull a stretch through the doorway you just did the seam,(to the wall away from the doorway) and hook the carpet on the tackstrip. Be careful, you can over stretch real easy!! It may only take a ½ bite with the powerstretcher. Pull just enought to not make wrinkles outside the doorway. Now set the wall right next to you, all the way back to the doorway, with a knee kicker, and rub the carpet onto the tackstrip to grip it with a hammer head(that is if the doorway is in the corner of the room, and not the middle)

Now turn the stretcher 90 degrees and stretch off the wall you just set on the strip with the knee kicker, starting close to the doorway wall. Make 2 stretchs, up to the corner, each the width of the stretcher head. Move the stretcher and set that wall that you just stretch next to, with the knee kicker. Put the stretcher back where you moved it from to set the wall. Continue stretching down that wall, keeping the tail in the same spot, and sxtending the stretcher, so you begin to stretch at an angle, till you get about 30 degrees of angle then start moving the tail to maintain the 30 degree angle. Go all the way down the wall to the corner.

Now set the stretcher up where you made your first stretch. Stretch down that wall keeping the stretcher straight without the angle, all the way to the corner and your done stretching.

Now trim out and tuck the carpet in the gap between the tackstrip and baseboard. Don't cut it short and don't cut it long! The carpet should barely ride up the baseboard a hair, when cut to tuck properly.

Hope this helped...I need to right a book online and refer everyone there!!!!!!!!

 

perry:

I want to buy a good electric staple gun for stapling carpet down in mobile homes. Do you have a suggestion and a source ?

 

I use a Duo-fast upholstery gun to do stairs that are upholstered. It would work great for what you want to do.

Why are you installing it with a staple gun? Why not tackstrip? It will make future replacement easier, next time!!