Carpet Fitting - To use old carpet as stencil or not?
Mike Armstrong
I'm thinking about having a go at fitting our hall/stairs/landing
carpet. Obviously I don't want to get it wrong as it could mean a
wasted carpet! I haven't attmpted to fit a carpet before and I
realise that hall/stairs/landing is probably not the easiest to start
with.
My wife suggested using the old carpet as a stencil to cut out the new
one and this sounds to me like a very good idea. Have any of you
tried this and did it work?
Any other tips for successful carpet fitting would be much
appreciated! Maybe I should just fork out the £45 which I've been
quoted? (Carpet is felt backed £75 rollend)
Thanks
Mike
Matt Birchall
>Hi all,
>
>I'm thinking about having a go at fitting our hall/stairs/landing
>carpet. Obviously I don't want to get it wrong as it could mean a
>wasted carpet! I haven't attmpted to fit a carpet before and I
>realise that hall/stairs/landing is probably not the easiest to start
>with.
>
No, I would start on a square room! The stairs will be very easy to mess up.
Like a lot of DIY I would try a small job in a less public area before
trying a large job in a very visible, public area.
Also, from a safety point of view you really don't want
to end up with loose or badly fitting carpet on the stairs.
>My wife suggested using the old carpet as a stencil to cut out the new
>one and this sounds to me like a very good idea. Have any of you
>tried this and did it work?
>
Never tried it, but I wouldn't try this method
out on the stairs without trying it out in a smaller room.
>Any other tips for successful carpet fitting would be much
>appreciated!
>
If you want to run any telephone cables or other
plumbing under the affected flooring
then plan this before you fit the carpet.
This is a good time to fix those squeaking floorboards
or uninsulated pipes etc.
>Maybe I should just fork out the £45 which I've been
>quoted? (Carpet is felt backed £75 rollend)
>
I think I would fork out in this case. I have fitted a few
carpets and also laid a solid wood floor but there is a lot
more to a stair carpet than to a nice flat, square room.
matt
chris French
<no.e...@due.to.spammers> writes
>Hi all,
>
>I'm thinking about having a go at fitting our hall/stairs/landing
>carpet. Obviously I don't want to get it wrong as it could mean a
>wasted carpet! I haven't attmpted to fit a carpet before and I
>realise that hall/stairs/landing is probably not the easiest to start
>with.
>
>quoted? (
Is that all? I'd pay it, watch them and get some tips, and then try it
on a simpler room. This is probably the most complicated room to choose.
--
Chris French, Leeds
Stuart
Thats why carpet fitters charge more for H/S +L 's
Stuart
---------
Remove YOURPANTS before E-mailing Me
Dave Plowman
Mike Armstrong <no.e...@due.to.spammers> wrote:
> Any other tips for successful carpet fitting would be much
> appreciated! Maybe I should just fork out the £45 which I've been
> quoted? (Carpet is felt backed £75 rollend)
It's one of those jobs you might or might not be a 'natural' with.
Using old carpets as a template would be a start, but for a neat job the
new one has to be stretched into place - certainly on stairs where it
should be tight for safety reasons.
45 quid seems cheap to me even if all the gripper boards etc exist. I'd
be tempted to pay this time and watch them doing it, and do a simple room
first yourself. But it looks deceptively easy like many things.
--
* When it rains, why don't sheep shrink? *
Dave Plowman dave....@argonet.co.uk London SW 12
RIP Acorn
JimM
guys half a day to do a decent job for the whole of the H,S&L. Is it plain
or patterened, if the latter I'd want it to be dead straight so that the
pattern repeated properly up the stairs etc. Whatever I certainly wouldn't
do this as my first attempt. Anyway do you have the necessary tools
kneekicker etc
Jim
"Stuart" <stu...@shawsYOURPANTS2000.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1a5mnuorqgi43hglm...@4ax.com...
Jet
Mike Armstrong <no.e...@due.to.spammers> wrote in message
news:c0vknu02ghu01cl1p...@4ax.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I'm thinking about having a go at fitting our hall/stairs/landing
> carpet. Obviously I don't want to get it wrong as it could mean a
> wasted carpet! I haven't attmpted to fit a carpet before and I
> realise that hall/stairs/landing is probably not the easiest to start
> with.
Too true. H/S/L can be a bitch, as every step has to be "perfect" (perfect:
carpet well cut to the edges, and a tight fit [stretched] between each
step... even more so if you have a turn on the stairs.
> My wife suggested using the old carpet as a stencil to cut out the new
> one and this sounds to me like a very good idea. Have any of you
> tried this and did it work?
Yep, but first of all, check very carefully the fit of the existing carpets.
If they are well fitted, it can give you adequate guidelines from which to
start.
If it is badly fitted, get out the tape measure and measure up, then draw a
plan of the stairs onto paper with the measurements, etc. Roll the new
carpet out somewhere and cut the carpet as follows:
OVERSIZE on the landings / hallway by 4-5 inches.
Measure twice, cut once.
Cut the stair carpet to the same width as the stairs width.
Ensure grippers are located, correctly orientated around the edges of the
landing / hall no more than 1/2 inch from the skirting. On the stairs
ensure grippers are fitted on each step and riser about 1/2 inch from the
corner where they meet.
The landing carpet should fold down to the first riser ensuring a nice
finish from the top of the stairs to the landing above it.
Then work out the lengths needed to follow down the stairs.
If you have selected a patterned carpet and want the pattern repeating
precisely, take this into account also.
Tools / materials required:
Hammer
Box of 1 inch ring nails.
Edging Tool. (Approximate cost £12 - 15 for small one)
Knee kicker (Approximate cost £55 -100 depending on quality, etc)
Stanley knife, average H/S/L blade consumption: 6 - 10 blades (ALWAYS... use
fresh, sharp blades).
Carpet grippers (measure for enough to to the job, remember you don't need
grippers cross door / understairs cupboard thresholds)
Underlay, unless the existing underlay is in good condition. You need
almost enough underlay for the total area to be fitted, so work that out.
(Almost enough, because when you carpet the stairs, you only put underlay on
the steps, NOT the risers. The underlay should extend down from the step by
about 2 inches to give a nice look and support for the carpet to shape
itself.
> Any other tips for successful carpet fitting would be much
> appreciated!
As has been said elsewhere in this thread, if you haven't fitted carpets
before, I would strongly advise you to pay the £45 and get a few things from
it:
1: A professionally fitted carpet (although this does depend on the quality
of the fitters you choose).
2: See exactly how the basics are achieved to fit carpets yourself.
3: Saving £80 odd quid on the tools necessary to do the job. How often are
you going to fit carpets? Once you have carpetted your house, that's it for
the next xx years and the specialist tools will sit gathering dust.
4: Potentially save £35 odd quid by getting someone who has the tools do it
for you.
5: Potentially save £155 odd quid by having it fitted professionally
(savings on tool purchase and replacement carpet if you make a complete arse
of the job).
6: Save a shitload of aggravation. Like many other DIY projects, carpet
fitting does appear fairly easy, especially when you watch a pro, but we
have all been there, done that, when a seemingly straight-forward job jumps
up and bites the nether regions! ;)
(ie: repainting the skirtings where you struck with the edging tool and
battered the paintjob.)
7: Disappear down the pub after the carpet fitters have gone, and bask (a)
in the knowledge you have gained by watching (b) the money you have saved on
some specialist tools.
Maybe I should just fork out the £45 which I've been
> quoted? (Carpet is felt backed £75 rollend)
Your choice :) That sounds a good price (for an "average" H/S/L),
considering that working with felt backed carpet is a bit of a bitch
(Industry replacement for foam rubber backed stuff).
Good Luck
--
Jet
mike
foam-backed carpets (including one on the stairs) and found this
gadget useful:
http://www.interfloor.com/Gripperrods/toolsTCT.htm
It's the orange Carpet and Vinyl Trimmer half-way down the page. About
£12 or £15 from B&Q/Homebase. It's a lot easier than trying to do it
with a Stanley knife because it pushes the carpet into the corner as
it cuts, and it keeps the blade at 45 degrees. It takes hooked
Stanley blades.
There's also info on the site about fitting felt-backed carpets.
I didn't use the old carpets as a stencil. Just cut the carpet a few
inches bigger than the room and then trim as you fit. Use decent
scissors - but not your best ones. And knee pads are a nice extra if
you have some handy.
Paying to have it done is fine if the guy you get knows what he's
doing, but a friend had some expensive carpet fitted by one of the
well-know carpet warehouses and it looked like it'd been done by a
blind man with a hatchet.
Jet
mike <mike...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ca4261e4.02090...@posting.google.com...
> Not sure how relevant this is to felt-backed carpets but I've fitted
> foam-backed carpets (including one on the stairs) and found this
> gadget useful:
>
> http://www.interfloor.com/Gripperrods/toolsTCT.htm
Some interesting stuff here... :)
> It's the orange Carpet and Vinyl Trimmer half-way down the page. About
> £12 or £15 from B&Q/Homebase. It's a lot easier than trying to do it
> with a Stanley knife because it pushes the carpet into the corner as
> it cuts, and it keeps the blade at 45 degrees. It takes hooked
> Stanley blades.
I've fitted hundreds of carpets so I suppose I should be able to do it with
a sawn off log by now (j/k ;0)
The edging tool takes care of attaching the carpet onto the grippers -
particularly important on the stairs.
> There's also info on the site about fitting felt-backed carpets.
>
> I didn't use the old carpets as a stencil. Just cut the carpet a few
> inches bigger than the room and then trim as you fit. Use decent
> scissors - but not your best ones. And knee pads are a nice extra if
> you have some handy.
I would recommend cutting carpets with a new stanley blade every time, but
it really depends on what tools work best for the individual and the results
you requre. With hessian backed carpets cutting with a blade is a doddle
particularly if you turn the carpet over and cut through the back.
> Paying to have it done is fine if the guy you get knows what he's
> doing, but a friend had some expensive carpet fitted by one of the
> well-know carpet warehouses and it looked like it'd been done by a
> blind man with a hatchet.
Hopefully your friend (beat him into a coma then) got a refund / refit foc.
--
Jet
Mike Armstrong
Thanks for all your replies.
I decided to play it safe and paid my £45. The guy came around
yesterday and fitted the carpet in around 3 hours. Probably would
have taken me 3 days! I now consider that to be £45 well spent!
Cheers!
Mike
cetltd
<no.e...@due.to.spammers> writes
How much ??
I got three rooms, hall stairs and landing done for £110
Avid DIYer that I am, this is a job I'm glad I left it to a
professional, especially the hall and stairs and his ability to match up
the pattern. Then there's always the "Oops" factor
--
raden
Phil Addison
<no.e...@due.to.spammers> wrote:
>
>Any other tips for successful carpet fitting would be much
http://www.carpetfitter.co.uk/fitpart1.htm
--
Phil Addison
uk.d-i-y FAQ maintainer. http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/