Dear James: Our wall-to-wall carpeting is looking its age, and it should be replaced. I would like to save the installation costs. Can installing it be a DIY project?—Bruce R.
Dear Bruce: It definitely can be a DIY project, particularly in a basically rectangular room. Removing and disposing of the old carpeting and preparing the floor can consume half of the project’s time. I would recommend having a professional installer do stairs, particularly ones with balusters.
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. If you have children, 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 4-foot-long thin wood strips with many sharp gripper tacks sticking up. The tacks in these strips dig into the back of the carpeting to secure it to the floor and keep it taught. 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 a 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 3 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 screwdriver or putty knife to push the edge of the carpet down into the gap between the tack strip and the wall.
