Rugs, Carpets and Carpeting - carpet installation

I am in need of how-to instructions on carpet installation. I am installing berber carpet in a 12*24' room. I have the necessary tools including a carpet kicker and iron but have no idea how to use them or how to begin my installation process. Please help.

Well, my first comment is that you've chosen one of the best types of carpet available on the market today. It's expensive to buy, but well worth the price.

I'm assuming that the carpet is in one 12' wide piece. If not, please post again and I'll run you through the installation process for 6' wide carpet.

Ted

I am not sure what they want, so I will type in this area too

Thanks,

I am working with Berber for a TV room, I am working with a 12x12 piece of carpet.
Carpet is larger than room. Do I pull the carpet flush for two of the walls, then how do I use the stretcher?

The carpet nail strips? how do I use them? Do I put them close to the walls or set them out a few inches?

1) Position the carpet in such a way as to insure it goes through the door a bit in order to terminate it properly. I like to leave some going up all walls so I've got something to trim. You can, however, do as you've proposed. If you're stretching from the doorway, you can butt the carpet to the opposite wall, but it will make things difficult if you're using a power stretcher because the carpet will stretch enough to go up the wall some, but not enough to effectively trim without problems. If you're going to take that approach, leave it about a quarter inch away from the wall so that, as it's stretched, it can be stuffed without leaving anything to trim. Most loop pile residential carpets have a fairly stiff backing and won't stretch much width wise.
2) Tack strip is normally placed roughly a quarter inch from the wall or the thickness of your fingers as you're setting it on the floor. The edges of the strip, the angle of the pins, and the printing on the strip all tell how to orient it. The edge pointing into the room is cut square and the edge pointing to the wall is cut at an angle. The pins are not straight up, they're angled and the angle points to the wall. I believe the printing is on the room side, but, for some reason I'm drawing a blank right now.