Installation Options
Either the night before or the morning of your installation, vacuum the old carpet to minimize the airborne dust and particles that removing it will cause.
All floor coverings need to be installed over a structurally sound and properly installed subfloor. Any wood that has been damaged by insects, water, or other factors should be repaired prior to carpet installation.
Keep In Mind:
• Some doors may need trimming to accommodate the thickness of your new flooring. Doors that do not open and close properly due to the new floor may be removed during installation, and it will be up to you to have the doors cut and re-hung.
• It may be necessary to remove moldings and reattach them during installation.
• All sheets, blankets, and spreads should be removed from beds before the installers arrive. All items from the tops of dressers and from closet floors should also be cleared.
Installing carpet with attached cushion
Creative Carpets does not recommend do-it-yourself installation of conventional carpet with or without separate pad. Proper procedures, including stretching and seaming, are best done by a qualified, professional installer following CRI standards for installation of residential carpet.
However, carpet with an attached cushion can be installed for residential use by the do-it-yourselfer. The attached cushion makes carpet rolls lightweight and easy to handle. With a few, simple, inexpensive tools and double-faced tape, you can complete a beautiful, quality installation in no time. (Professional installers will find that carpet with an attached cushion can be installed quickly and easily using a good quality, low VOC, multipurpose adhesive).
Getting started: The tools you will need are a utility knife with extra blades, a pry bar, a putty knife, a metal measuring tape, a hammer and scissors. If you have to make a seam, you’ll need a string chalk line, a straight-edge or a cushion-back carpet cutter. Carpet seam sealer adhesive is also required for seams and may be purchased at any carpet supply shop or at home improvement or do-it-yourself stores that sell carpet.
Before you buy the carpet, measure the room first. And don’t forget to measure to the center of doorways and to the backs of closets.
Installation with double-faced tape: Before you begin, it's a good idea to measure the room again, then precut the carpet 4" to 6" larger than the room size. A good rule to remember: measure twice, cut once!
If possible, remove all furniture from this room. This will allow you to maneuver the carpet into the room and place it without obstructions. If the room has shoe molding, remove the shoe mold using a pry bar and hammer. (Shoe mold, sometimes referred to as quarter-round, is the small strip of wood at the intersection of the baseboard and floor. Do not remove baseboards). Take extra care not to break the fragile pieces. Remove the doors by taking the pins out of the hinges. The bottom of the doors may have to be trimmed to allow them to swing freely over the installed carpet.
Step one — Put double-faced carpet tape around the perimeter of the room and place 12" x 12" crosses at four-foot intervals in the middle of the room. Leave the protective cover on the tape for now.
Step two — Position the carpet in the room, centering it. Let the 2" to 3" surplus run up the walls equally. If one wall has no thresholds or projections, it is all right to butt the carpet up to that wall and trim the other three sides.
Step three: — Fold one half of the carpet back over itself, peel the protective cover off the tape and replace the carpet, smoothing out the carpet from the center of the room toward the walls. Repeat for the other half of the room.
Step four — On sides that must be trimmed, use a stiff putty knife to crease the carpet at a 90-degree angle at the joint of the floor and the wall. Trim off the surplus carpet, making sure you have a sharp blade in your utility knife. Be sure to hold the knife almost parallel to the floor and cut in the crease. Walk along this edge to fasten it to the tape.
Installation with staples: Staples can be used instead of tape. Use heavy duty staples that are a minimum of 1/2" long. Do not use more staples than are necessary to hold the carpet down securely. On hardwood floors, it may be necessary to tap the staple with a small hammer to drive it in fully. Do this immediately after shooting each staple.
Installation with multi-purpose adhesives: Any good multipurpose adhesive may be used with attached carpet cushions. After positioning the carpet in the room (see step #3 above), fold one half of the carpet back over itself, apply the adhesive (following manufacturer’s instructions) to the floor. After proper “tack time,” lay the carpet into the adhesive and then do the other half of the room. Trim the carpet as mentioned in step #4 above.
Making a seam: On all seams, you will need to position the second piece of carpet so that it runs in the same direction as the first. This is very important.
When you have determined how the two pieces of carpet will lie in the room, you’ll want to start by getting the straightest edge possible on the piece you will cut first. If using the cushion-back carpet cutter, you may make your cuts from the face side of the carpet. Follow proper seaming procedures supplied with the carpet cutter. If using a utility knife, fold the carpet over and, using a chalk line, mark where you wish to cut on the back of the carpet. Using the straight edge, trim the carpet as straight as you can, cutting through the back of the carpet.
Position both pieces of carpet properly in the room. Make sure that the edge of the trimmed piece is where you want your seam and that you have enough carpet on either side to reach the walls and doorways. With the uncut piece of carpet on the floor, place the edge of the trimmed piece on top overlapping at least 2". Use the trimmed edge of the cut piece as a guide to cut the other piece.
Fold back both sides and place one strip of 3" double-faced tape, centering the line or two strips of double-faced tape parallel to the line, one on each side of the line. Remove the protective paper from the tape, keeping the carpet folded back.
Apply a bead of seam sealer adhesive along the edge of the cushion-backed carpet. A plastic bottle with a long thin neck works best. Apply seam adhesive only to one edge of the carpet.
Complete the seam by butting both sections of the carpet together while the adhesive is still wet, allowing the carpet and cushion to make contact with the tape and seam sealer at the same time. Be sure to keep carpet fiber up and away from the seam sealer. (Professional installers may use hot-melt seaming tape on premium attached cushions. The seaming iron will not harm or melt the cushion).
Finishing your installation: Smears of adhesive on the carpet surface can be cleaned with a nonflammable solvent and a clean cloth if the cleaning is done while the adhesive is still wet.
If the edge of the carpet at a doorway must be butted up against carpeting in the next room or hall, follow the same procedure for seaming as described above. If there is sufficient carpet, most installers prefer to butt the two pieces in the section directly under the door when the door is closed, making a neater looking installation from both sides. If needed, you also may also wish to use metal binding strips found at any hardware store or home center.