7 DIY Carpet Installation Tips for Beginners

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Originally Posted On: https://www.impressiveinteriordesign.com/7-diy-carpet-installation-tips-for-beginners/

According to one study, the carpet industry is valued at $16.2 billion.

While it might seem like more and more people are ditching carpet for hardwood, hundreds of people still prefer the look and feel of carpet in their home.

Are you one of them? If you were thinking about DIY carpet installation, we have some tips and tricks to help you save a little bit of money!

1. Put Down Tack Strips

Tackless strips, or tack strips, can be used instead of using a bunch of smaller tacks to hold your carpet down to the floor.

They are just strips of wood that have tacks attached to it. You can lay these around your room to help hold the carpet down to the floor.

To use these, you’ll have to make sure everything is removed off the floor first. Take off any doors that open into the room that you’ll be installing the carpet in as well.

If you have a small hand saw, you can use these to cut through the tack strips. This will help you make sure they can fit around the entire room.

The tack points should be facing the wall. When you come to a doorframe, skip doing the part where the door opens because you don’t want someone to accidentally step on it and hurt themselves.

If this is your first time laying down carpet, you’ll probably try to put the tack strips right up against the wall.

However, a good rule of thumb when installing tack strips is to leave a space about two-thirds the width of the carpet. If it’s too hard to eyeball that, keep a scratch piece of carpet to measure it.

Another rule you should follow in regard to tack strips is to not put the carpet padding on the strips. Instead, make sure that the padding ends just before the tack strip starts.

Overlapping the padding on the tack strip will just leave you with bumps in your carpet.

If you don’t feel confident to do all of this yourself, you can contact Empire Carpet and Flooring for professional help!

2. Rent Tools to Help You

If you’re going to install carpet on your own, you’ll need some tools that you likely don’t have.

Don’t worry if you don’t have them though. You can always rent them at cheap prices.

Instead of just using a cheap knife to cut the carpet, you’ll need a special tool to help you cut through the thickness.

You’ll also need some things like a power stretcher, a knee kicker, and a seam iron. In addition to that, you’ll need more common items like a utility stapler, chalk-line, and a hammer.

3. Consider the Direction of the Carpet

When you have these tools and start to think about where you want to lay your carpet, you can’t just lay it whichever way you want.

Even if it doesn’t seem obvious right now, the carpet swatches will have patterns in them. When you bring two of them close together, you have to be careful to match the patterns.

For the carpet that has no pattern, you’ll have to look closely at it to make sure the carpet piles are going in the same direction. This will ensure that your carpet looks accurate once you’ve finished laying it.

4. Put Down Carpet Padding

In addition to laying down carpet, you’ll also have to lay down some padding.

The carpet pad is a cushiony later that goes underneath the carpet so that you don’t feel like you’re walking on the hard ground all the time.

When you install the carpet padding, you’ll have to make sure you follow some simple steps though.

The carpet padding should have directions on it for which directions to tape it all together. Once you’ve done that, you can use a staple gun to fasten it to the edge of the tack strip.

If there is any that runs over the tack strip, just trim it with a knife.

5. Measure the Room

Before you go out and buy the carpet, you should’ve measured the size of the room.

This will help give you a good indication of how much to buy so that you’re not wasting your money.

To do this, measure your room for the length and width. Once you have those numbers, you can figure out how much square feet of carpet you’ll need to buy.

If your room isn’t a perfect rectangle, just measure each wall as if it were a rectangle and then round a little bit.

6. Use a Carpet Stretcher

Another tool you’ll probably need is a carpet stretcher, which can help make sure your carpet looks like it was installed by a professional.

There are two different types of stretchers that you can get: a long power stretcher and a knee kicker.

The first one will help make sure your carpet is pulled tight throughout the other room. The second one will help to ensure it isn’t bumpy and lumpy in the corners.

7. Secure the Carpet

Lastly, you’ll have to secure the carpet to the floor. This is where the tack strips will really come in handy.

If your carpet has adhesive, this is where you’ll use the heated seaming iron to melt the adhesive and make it stick to the rest of the floor.

While the glue dries, you can set a heavy object on it to make it stay.

Discover More DIY Carpet Installation Tips

These are only a few things to know about DIY carpet installation, but there are many more tips out there.

It can be a challenging thing to do, especially if you’ve never done it before. Thankfully, you don’t have to go into the process blindly.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure you explore our website to find more just like this one to help you with your future home renovations!