About This Project

Before you start, unroll the carpet and padding in a separate room. Make sure you have the right amount of carpet, and see that it is free of defects.

Prepare the room by removing all the furniture and baseboard shoe moldings. Plane down the high spots in the floor and fill wide cracks or dips with floor-leveling compound. For badly worn floors, install underlayment. Then install the tackless strip, carpet pad, and the carpet, using the techniques shown here and in Stretching and Trimming Carpet (link on next page).

A tackless strip creates a framework over which carpeting is stretched and held tight. A standard tackless strip is designed to be installed onto hardwood or softwood; strips for concrete floors are also available.

When abutting a floor covering other than carpeting, nail a metal threshold strip with gripper pins to the floor. Where one carpet section adjoins another, do not use a tackless strip. Later you will seam the pieces together.

Lay the carpet padding within the framework and cut it to size with a utility knife. Make sure the side with the slick membrane faces up. Staple the padding in place, paying special attention to seam lines and edges. If the floor is concrete, roll back one section of padding at a time and spread pad adhesive. Lay the padding back in place.