Tips for DIY Carpet Installation
Before you decide whether to install the carpet yourself or hire a professional to do it, you should know that it can be a labor-intensive and time-consuming project. Make sure that you do your research on all the different steps that are involved in carpet installation when doing it yourself. The first thing that you will need to do is remove the old carpet and padding benefit it. Sometimes you can reuse the older padding but it is advisable to install new padding when you get new carpet. Before you rip up the old carpet make sure that you vacuum the carpet to help prevent excess dirt and dust from entering the air. You should make sure that you have all the necessary tools needed for carpet installation before you start.
Once you have the old carpet and padding underneath you need to vacuum the floor that was underneath. You will also have to remove all of the old tackless strips and then replace them with new ones. These are what help to hold the new carpet in place. If the strips are in reasonably good condition you can also reuse these. The first thing that you need to is put down the tackless strips and then your carpet padding. The carpet padding should overlap your tackless strips. You should use duct tape to seal the seams of the pads. It is important that you make sure that the seams do not overlap because this can lead to having lumps in your new carpet installation and can be a tripping hazard. Using a stapling gun staple the padding in place to make sure that it does not shift during the carpet installation process.
When doing DIY carpet installation it is very important that you make sure that the carpet is stuck tight against each wall before you secure it against the tackless strips. One tool that you will have to rent is called a knee kicker. This tool is used to force the carpet toward each wall. One end of the tool is padded so the one installing the carpet will kick, or hit, the padded end with their knee. It can be a very tiring job but is one that has to be done to make sure that the carpet installation looks like a professional has done it. You can also use a carpet stretcher, which is a simple hand tool that makes sure that the carpet is tight and flat against the surface of the floor. This tool is often used with other carpet tools like with the knee kicker.
