Rugs, Carpets and Carpeting - self installing berber carpeting

We have a 12 x 12 dining room and I bought a remnant of berber carpet to put in. I have arranged to use a power stretcher but would like some advise on the proper approach to installing. There is already some tack strip from old carpeting and some kind of pad that looks newish. How should we approach this install?

First, make sure the pad is right for berber. You should have 3/8 eight pound rebond, unless you have in-floor radiant heat, in which case you need rubber. A picture of the pad would be helpful to determine what you have now. Pad is the main key to the life of your carpet and now is a good opportunity to do it right. Next, make sure the tack strip is installed correctly and is good and tight to the floor. Lazy installers take short cuts and there are a few that can be done with tack strip that will cause you fits when stretching. There needs to be a gap all around the room between the strip and what ever is there. For instance, the door ways should look like this, http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q72/Smokey49/Stripandpadinstall018.jpg
and not like this, http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q72/Smokey49/stripandpad008.jpg
Notice how each small piece has two nails. That's to keep it from turning during the stretching process. If it turns, it eliminates the gap on one end or another. You need that gap to give you a place to tuck the carpet. Also, make sure the individual pieces of strip have nails holding the ends of them. Lazy installers will cut a piece of strip and then nail the remaining piece down with out nailing the end of it. If you put a proper stretch on it, that loose end can cause you problems. The ends should look like this, http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q72/Smokey49/Stripandpadinstall013.jpg
and not like this, http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q72/Smokey49/Stripandpadinstall012.jpg
Use your hammer to bump all of the strip to make sure it is well secured to the floor. Any loose places need to be nailed down. Sheetrock nails or roofing nails work well, provided you're dealing with a wood floor. If the carpet ties to other carpet, this is all that needs done to prepare. If it will terminate to a different floor material, I'll need to know what that is in order to tell you how to deal with that termination point. Once you've made sure the strip is in good shape and well secured and you're happy with the pad, you're ready to install the carpet. Lay the carpet out so there is a little running up the walls all around the room. Also make sure it drops through any door ways and extends past the center of the door, into any adjoining rooms. You'll need this extra in order to seam on to other carpet or to properly terminate to other flooring materials. If the carpet is too narrow to accomplish this, pictures of the layout would be helpful in order to determine how best to proceed. What do you have for tools beside access to a stretcher? Do I need to provide pictures of a stair tool, wall trimmer, kicker, and so on? I'll quit for now and we'll continue when you're ready.