This is intended for the homeowner who wants to lay carpet or restretch carpet in his home, not for the professional installer. I will discuss low-tech methods and the tools required.
Carpet Types
Three different types of carpet are commercial
glue-down, indoor/outdoor stuff that looks like grass, and stretched carpet
normally used in a home. You can see different qualities of carpet at a store,
and hopefully the clerk will be able to advise which is best suited for your
needs. Be cautious with Berber carpeting since it sometimes will run if snagged
on something, and it is somewhat hard. I won't be talking about the indoor/outdoor
carpet in this report.
Preparation
If you will be installing a glue-down carpet, the
subfloor should be clean and dust free. Beyond that, follow the directions on the adhesive
container. Other directions below apply to both types of carpet, as obvious.
For stretched carpet, the need for a clean and dust-free
subfloor is not as important, but it is still a good idea. This is particularly
true if this is a new home for you and the previous occupant may have had pets or
may not have been as clean living as you are. You can lay carpet on wood subfloor
or concrete slab. I do not recommend laying carpet over ceramic tile unless the tile
is very flat; I saw carpet that had been laid over large, rough pavers and it looked
terribly cheap.
Tack Strips
Obviously these are needed only for stretched
carpet. If there was stretched carpet in place before, check the tack strips to
be sure they are fastened down tightly. Replace any that are loose or rusted from
water, and particularly any that are rusty from pet accidents. To remove them,
pry under with a wide chisel and flat prybar. Wear leather gloves and face protection!
They may just
pop up or they may splinter between the nails. That is just fine since you will
want them in small pieces to dispose of easily. Then remove the nails with a claw
hammer or the flat prybar. If on concrete, protect your eyes since the nails can
pop out with some force.
The tack strips are set with the tacks pointing
toward the wall and should be about 1/2" from the face of the molding. Best practice
is to use two tack strips one behind the other at stress points like doorways.
Tack strips are nailed to the subfloor with a heavy hammer; most tack strips I
have seen will work for either concrete slab or wood. To cut them, use hammer
and chisel or tin snips. Pros use a special cutter that looks like pliers, with
replaceable sharp blades. I got one at a home center some years ago but have
not seen them there since.
Padding
The quality of the pad is very important. Most
pad I see used today is the rebond foam plastic. It is tough, nicely resilient, and
long lived. It comes in several thicknesses and densities. I don't necessarily
recommend that the pad be too thick, but it should have a nice feel underfoot. I
do not recommend using the old waffle pad; it is cheap and feels like it. It is also
damaged if you have a water problem and it will stain the carpet if that happens.
The old rubber pad has a very nice feel underfoot, but it decomposes with time and
loses that nice feel after a while. It is also expensive.
The pad goes inside the tack strips, not over
them. It will shift if you do not fasten it down. On a slab, typical practice is
to just squiggle some adhesive near the edges and in other spots; you should be
able to get this adhesive at a carpet store or maybe a home center. For pad over
wood, use a stapler to fasten it down; most pros use a hammer tacker.
Laying The Carpet
Ok, so now we are ready to go! The tack strips
and pad are in place. Cut the carpet with a carpet razor knife; it works a world
better than a utility knife and it is not expensive. Get a pack of extra blades
since they don't last long. Cut the carpet oversize a couple inches all around;
you see pros lay it out on the street or driveway and rough cut it there. Then
bring it inside and lay it in place. Hook it on the tack strips in the middle of
one wall and break out the stretcher.
If you are just doing a restretch job or patch,
you may be able to stretch the carpet with your hands, or maybe a vacuum cleaner
floor tool. For a room-sized job, rent a carpet stretcher kit. A stretcher kit is
expensive, so rent one. It comes with the gripper head and several telescoping tubes.
Brace it with a length of 2x4 against the far wall (where you started hooking the carpet
down); the 2x4 is to protect the base molding. Set up the tubes so the power head
ends up near the other wall, hook the gripper head to the carpet, and use the lever
arm to force the carpet in place. Be cautious with this until you learn to use it
because the leverage can be very great; you don't want to damage the carpet. Push
the carpet down on the tack strip when you have it in place.
Then shift the stretcher to a slight angle
and set the next edge of the carpet in place. Then reverse the stretcher and work
the first wall some. Work back and forth for a while, and
then start in the middle of one side wall and start in that direction, back and forth
until you get the carpet pretty well in place. As you work toward the corners, you
will probably find the carpet fighting you in the corners and you will have to start
trimming it. Use the razor knife to cut the carpet so that the cut edge falls under
the base molding, and tuck it under with a setting iron. This is a chisel-shaped tool
about 3" wide. Mine is chrome plated steel but you can now get cheaper ones made of
a tough plastic. Use the hammer on the tool to force the carpet into the crack under
the base molding. You may be able to rent an edge trimming tool; these make it a
lot easier to trim the carpet edge, but they are expensive so don't plan to buy one.
Seaming
If possible, avoid seams, particularly in the center
of a room. But if you need to seam two pieces of carpet together, rent a seaming iron.
It is a heated iron that melts the seaming tape to the under side of the carpet to
permanently fasten the two pieces together. There are a couple types of seaming tape
so be sure you buy the right kind for the carpet you are laying. Be very careful when
seaming; first be sure the cuts are straight, and that the pile is not in the seam,
and then be sure the two pieces are pressed firmly together as the iron passes by.
Edge Treatments
If you have carpet meeting another type of floor
covering in a doorway, you will have to edge the carpet. You can use a clamp-on metal
edge, but that method is seldom used nowadays. Instead, the "perfect edge" treatment
is favored. Get a thin aluminum Z-strip and fasten it under the tack strip, with the
bent edge toward the wall. Cut the carpet about 1/2" beyond the metal edge
and fold it over the edge. Then mash down the edge with a hammer; best to use a wood
block so you don't damage the hard flooring beyond. This will give you
a substantial fastening with no metal showing; hence perfect.