Rugs, Carpets and Carpeting - Installing carpet myself - should I?
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yottaflops
10-08-08, 04:26 PM
I need to have new carpet put into two bedrooms (about 150 sq.ft. each). The bedrooms are already carpeted now. I'm considering buying the carpet and putting it in myself, for several reasons:
1. Frustration with dealing with contractors
2. Save $ (esp since it's a small job, I figured people might not want to do it for cheap $/sq)
3. More flexible timeline
The thing is, I've never done it before, and I just don't know how difficult it is, or what's involved. I've read up a little on it, but things are always more complicated than they seem =)
I figured if I can reuse the tack strips, then perhaps it wouldn't be too bad. What do you guys think?
Thanks a bunch for any advice.
1. Frustration with dealing with contractors
2. Save $ (esp since it's a small job, I figured people might not want to do it for cheap $/sq)
3. More flexible timeline
The thing is, I've never done it before, and I just don't know how difficult it is, or what's involved. I've read up a little on it, but things are always more complicated than they seem =)
I figured if I can reuse the tack strips, then perhaps it wouldn't be too bad. What do you guys think?
Thanks a bunch for any advice.
Carpets Done Wright
10-08-08, 08:16 PM
Yes, if the tackstrips are not damaged in anyway(water , rot, rust) you can reuse them. You will need to make sure they are fastened well and not come loose.
Padding is pretty straight forward. Look how it is done, when you remove the carpet.
Now the carpet can be fairly easy, as long as there are NO SEAMS involved. rooms less then 12 feet wide, without a doorway seam to other carpet. Once you get to a seam, it is best left to someone that has done it before and very experienced.
You will need a pole stretcher and a knee kicker. Stretch it out like a sheet on a bed, without cutting and tucking yet.
The carpet and rug institute has the basics outlined in their CRI-105 guidlines.
google carpet and rug institute and look for a .pdf of the CRI-105.
If you had all the old carpet out, and the padding rolled up outside and not in a ball, rooms swept and vacuumed, with all the new materials on site where I didn't have to run all over town to pick them up and deliver them. I could come in and do the installation for around $250, it would be extra $75 for me to haul off and dump the carpet. Your probably going to spend that much in tool rental.
Padding is pretty straight forward. Look how it is done, when you remove the carpet.
Now the carpet can be fairly easy, as long as there are NO SEAMS involved. rooms less then 12 feet wide, without a doorway seam to other carpet. Once you get to a seam, it is best left to someone that has done it before and very experienced.
You will need a pole stretcher and a knee kicker. Stretch it out like a sheet on a bed, without cutting and tucking yet.
The carpet and rug institute has the basics outlined in their CRI-105 guidlines.
google carpet and rug institute and look for a .pdf of the CRI-105.
If you had all the old carpet out, and the padding rolled up outside and not in a ball, rooms swept and vacuumed, with all the new materials on site where I didn't have to run all over town to pick them up and deliver them. I could come in and do the installation for around $250, it would be extra $75 for me to haul off and dump the carpet. Your probably going to spend that much in tool rental.