Rugs, Carpets and Carpeting - Fixing Carpet on stairs that were not properly installed

My girlfriends dad helped me re carpet my basement after we flooded last month and the floor turned out well but the stairs didnt. I have never layed carpet before so he helped. He didnt use any tack strips. The padding we used I think is way too thick and the staples he used didnt make their way all the way through the carpet and padding. I dont want to pull it all up and do it again. Does anybody know of an alternative? I want to try Carpet Tacks but I am not sure if they will show if I just nail them in through the top of the carpet. I tried with one and it is hard to get it in far enough. Should I rent a nail gun? Any opinions on how to fix up this screwed up project would be very helpful. Thanks!

You need an air compressor and a staple gun. The staples should be long enough to go through the carpet, pad and into the treads. Presuming you used 9/16' padding, the staples should be about 7/8' min.- mybe 1". Tuch the carped under to form a nice edge, and staple. The staples should hide themselves in the fiber of the carpet.

Yikes!!! A drive by shooting!!

Do what you gotta do. It ain't going to get better until they are done right.