Do-It-Yourself Carpet Installation Tips

Yes, carpet installation can be a difficult task if you are doing it yourself but the job can be simplified by following these tips. The two most important tips are to make sure that you have bought enough carpet to compensate if you make a cutting mistake and you have the tools that are necessary to install the carpet. If there is already carpet on the floor, you have to take it up and remove the padding. Once this is done you first need to replace the padding and then you are ready for the carpet installation. The carpet tack strips should be installed a short distance from the walls but make sure that you are keeping the padding’s edge inside the tack strips. Keep the carpet piles going in the identical direction when you make a seam in the carpet. At the seams the carpet must be cut straight in order to prevent gaps and overlaps from showing.

Some of the specialized tools that you will need include:

• Knee kicker tool-this is a required tool that is used to attach the carpet edges to the tack strips

• Power stretcher-this will help to keep your carpet wrinkle-free and smooth

• Seam iron-this will be used to connect together the two carpet pieces

• Seam cutting tool-this will help to keep the edge of the carpet straight when cutting

Cutting and measuring mistakes will often happen when doing installation yourself so this is why you need to make sure that you have some extra carpet. Allow some extra carpet in all directions. It is better to buy some extra carpet than to mess up an entire piece because a mistake was made. Generally, it is best to buy approximately five percent extra carpeting than what the actual measurement of the room is.

Make sure that you have many carpet tack strips for the installation job. When using these strips leave a carpet thickness space so you easily tuck it underneath the baseboard. As mentioned, make sure that the padding fits inside of the tack strips. If you let the padding overlap the carpet tack strip it will prevent your carpet from properly fastening. It will also produce a raised area near your walls that will be unsightly.

When you start to put two pieces of carpeting together proceed carefully. If you are installing a patterned carpet, you must make sure that the pieces fit exactly before they are joined so the pattern is correct. At the seams, non-patterned carpet should go in the same direction and the edges must be cut straight in order for the seam not to show after the installation is done.