giving awful advice as per usual, wish someone would police the industry and stop cowboys like this ruining it for professionals and customers alike. :evil: How to fit a carpet Laying carpet in small to medium sized rooms can be simpler than you think. Follow our step by step guide on how to lay your carpet. What you’ll need to get started Carpet Underlay (unless the carpet has built in underlay) Gripper Doorbar(s) Tools required (available from Tesco Direct) Fixed blade knife Stair Tool Carpet Kicker Hammer Measuring Tape Joining Tape – required if the room is wider than the width of carpet. For your safety, you may wish to wear gloves when handling the gripper as the protruding pins are sharp, kneepads when using the carpet kicker and safety glasses when hammering in the tacks of the gripper Step 1 – Preparing your floor Remove existing flooring. Old carpet and underlay can be easier to remove when cut into 1m wide sections which you can roll up and carry from the room. Sweep or vacuum the floor to remove any debris. If your floor is wooden, check for any loose floor boards and nail them down. Step 2 – Installing the carpet gripper You are now ready to install the carpet gripper. Our gripper is dual purpose so is suitable for both timber and concrete floors. The gripper will be secured around the perimeter of the room with the nails already inserted in the gripper. You need to lay it with the pins on the top side and slanting towards the wall. Cut to size round all sides of the room. Be sure to lay it right into the corners of the room and any recesses etc. The gripper should be positioned leaving 10-12cm between the wall and the gripper. Using the pre-inserted nails, nail the gripper to the floor. Step 3 - Installing the underlay You are now ready to install the underlay. Cut the underlay to fit the floor. Fitting up to the gripper but not covering it as the gripper will secure your carpet later. Secure the underlay to the floor. You can do this with staples or pins every 15 – 20cm If your floor is concrete spot glue or spray adhesive will do the trick. Ensure the glue is dry before proceeding. The underlay should not overlap but butt together and covering the joins with tape will ensure a smooth surface. Step 4 – Fitting the carpet Bring your carpet into the room being careful not to mark any decorated surfaces, position and roll out the carpet ready for fitting. If you have excess carpet in the length and or width, you should trim the carpet so the excess in length and width is no more than 10 – 12cm. This will make the carpet easier to handle and fit. NB Twist and cut pile carpets should be cut from the back and loop pile carpets from the front. You are now ready to stretch and secure the carpet to the gripper and you will need the knee kicker. Begin on one wall, push the teeth of the knee kicker into the carpet approximately 25 – 35cm from the wall. Kick the cushioned end of the knee kicker with your knee and this will secure the carpet onto the gripper. You may also rub along the carpet pushing it on to the gripper to ensure a firm hold. Continue along each wall and each side of the room until the carpet is suitably stretched and secured on the gripper. The carpet should be reasonably tight but be careful not to over use the knee kicker as this may tear the carpet. Now trim the excess carpet off leaving approximately 10 – 15mm of carpet for tucking. Tuck the 10-15mm of carpet down between the skirting board and gripper using the stair tool resulting in a beautiful smooth and tidy finish. At the doorway to the hall or next room, fit a doorbar to secure and protect the carpet edges. Finally remove any excess carpet, vacuum and enjoy your new carpet. Well done! What if the room is wider than the width of the carpet? If the room you wish to carpet is wider that the width of the carpet, you will need to join the carpet. Firstly ensure the pile on the 2 pieces of carpet is running in the same direction. Usually the carpet is laid with the pile running away from the window and towards the door. Avoid joining carpet at the main entrance to a room and consider the position of the furniture in the room as you may be able to conceal the join with furniture. The easiest and simplest method is to use a wide pre - glued tape with peel off backing. NB Be careful when stretching the carpet that you do not over stretch it as the join may come apart.
I know 10-12cm ban the buggers from ever selling flooring, plus joining a stretch fit carpet with double sided tape are they barking? :x
That's me complete now I can stop learning, tescos has completed my education!!! Every little helps!!!!
So thats where i have been going wrong all this time wish i had not bothered with an apprenticeship all those years ago!!!! Just another example of people making a mockery of our trade!!
Thats so bad infact I can feel my blood boiling over now. Someone needs to jump on them all over them. Its about time someone from our industry fessed up and stood up to these lot, they should not nor never be allowd to sell flooring in a shop like that. Infact it should be made mandatory that only people in the trade and provide a service as we all do should be allowed to sell carpet or flooring. They are be-littling our trade, next Tescos will be doing aircraft servicing.
The job im on doing some lvts and the carpet fitters turned up in world gym t-shirts and a removals van. What a bad job they did of the carpet. Cut short in places. They were cheap though my mate said.
Down grading teh trade mate. Its because of people like this that im pushing the floorskills grading. At least you will know if you will be getting a good fitter. And what is cheap? save £10 on a lounge carpet maybe? but poor fitting. All for £10 !
That eminds me of the job I had today all the way into London for 2.4m x .80m of Altro to a tea point on a refurbishment job. The guy we're doing the work for turns up to make sure we're ok no problems easy peasy ya think. Enter the carpet fitters working direct for the client to install 600m2. They were the scruffiest bunch of pikeies I'd ever seen, and then the boss man of them starts gettin all shirty with me. Say the jobs not ready and how long am I gonna be and they're gonna have to charge extra blah blah. And then he goes I hope you're coming back to put a trim in against that vinyl for the carpet tiles to finish neatly. Well that was it he pushed the right button then. I was like WTF screw your neck in fella or I will don't try and pull the wool over your customers eyes and come in here stampin your feet. I'm workin in this small area here so you can glue up atleast 80% of the main area fill ya boots fella. And by the way the trim is down to you as you will be the finishing trade so I make it your job, if the boot was on the other foot I am fully aware it would be on me. AMATURES we don't need them and don't want them. The result of the above they backed out an went home till tomorrow. Then the client comes in an goes you've upset them they won't come back till tomorrow and say its gonna take them 3 days. Are you serious me an my lad could do all of this in a day, knock of the time they spent arguing with me they couldve had it all glued out and started fitting by now. Some people honestly need a reality check.....
