The easiest place to install carpet is in larger open areas such as your living room, bedrooms or even your basement. It is a great do it yourself project and can be completed usually over a weekend.

The first step you must take in your installation project is to measure your room and find out how much material you will need. Most carpet is sold by the yard so you will need to find the square yardage of your room. Measure the length of your room and then the width, multiply the totals together and then divide that number by nine. This will give you the square yardage of your room.

Cost Estimation

Before you start your carpet installation you will most likely want to set a budget of how
much you are willing to spend on your project and try to calculate the cost of installing
carpet. It is also important to have a plan for an effective way to control your budget.
There are many variables you have to account for when trying to price your carpeting
installation. Carpeting prices are extremely variable, ranging from as inexpensive as two
dollars a square foot to as expensive as one hundred dollars a square yard.

Carpet padding is relatively inexpensive; in most cases is approximately fifty cents a
square foot. In some cases if you buy the carpet and carpet padding from the same
supplier they can give you a discount on the padding.

Installation of carpet is usually the more expensive part of the project. Average prices
of installation can vary from four dollars a square foot to as much as twelve dollars
a square foot. In a twelve by twelve foot room that could be as much as seventeen
hundred dollars before you add the cost of material. By installing the carpet yourself
you can save huge amounts of money that you can put towards installing higher quality
carpet or other home renovations.

Styles of Carpet

There are a number of different types of carpet to choose from to put in your home. Carpet varies in thread count, texture and can even have different designs woven into them so choosing the correct carpet for you can be very time consuming. Plush carpet is a very affordable with almost endless choices to color schemes but because it has and even yarn-pile it is prone to leaving footprints and vacuum marks. Texture carpet
is a higher grade of carpet which is more expensive but is much more durable and less likely to leave footprint marks.

Freize carpet is a very popular style of carpet. Frieze has very tightly twisted tuffs which makes it very resistant to any marks. This makes it a very appealing style that has been marketed at being able to last at least ten years. Berber carpet is a top of the line carpet. The carpet consists of heathered and flecked yarns that are woven into large and tight loops to give it a bold surface definition. This style of weaving creates a think cushion that also has great insulation value both for sound and temperature. Also the loops are almost impervious to being packed down when being walked on which makes it incredible long lasting. Modular carpet, better known as carpet tiles, originally started out in commercial use but over the years has become more popular in residential homes. It is a great material and is very easy to clean making it ideal to use in children’s rooms or any high traffic areas where spills or
messes may happen.

Preparation

Before you bring any materials into your room you must clean the surface you will be working on. Scrape up any lose paint or compound that may leave a hump in your finished floor. Vacuum up any lose scraps. Removing any doors in your room is recommended to avoid frustration when working with your material. Now you will install your tack strips. Tack strips are strips of wood that have small teeth facing up to bite into the bottom of your carpet and hold it from shifting. The strips will have pre-set nails sticking out of the face. Position your strips a half inch away from the wall and drive the nails in.

Installing Padding

The next step is to lay down the carpet pad. Make sure before rolling out your pad that it will be running perpendicular to the direction you wish to install your carpet. Roll the pad tight to the wall and put staples near your tack strips for added support.  Now staple the seams of the padding so that they are tightly fitted together. Then locate where you installed the tack strip and use a utility knife cut the excess padding and expose the strip.

Preparing the Carpet

Now it’s time to get your carpet ready. Start by measuring the longest point in your room and add three inches to your total so you have a little excess. Measure the length on your roll of carpet and make notches on each side. Then take a chalk line and make a line on the back of your carpet that matches up with both your notches and cut along the line.

Finishing the Installation

You can now roll out your carpet in your room. Make sure that you leave a little excess along your walls to make sure that your final fit will not be short. Wherever two pieces of carpeting run alongside each other there will be a seam that you will have to join. In order to hide this seam you must glue them together and you will need a roll of special seaming tape and a seaming iron to do so. Run a strip of the seaming tape on the underside of the seam with the adhesive side facing up. Heat up the seaming iron and begin to slowly run it along the seaming tape. Once the tape adhesive has melted press the carpet seam down onto it making sure the seam fits snugly together. Once the pieces are glued place some heavy object on them until the seam has dried.

Begin at one end of your room and start to attach the carpet to the tack strips using a knee kicker. Place the knee kicker approximately three inches away from the wall and bang the padded end to stretch the carpet across the tack strips. Repeat this process across the rest of your room.  Finally trim the edges using a wall trimmer. A wall trimmer is a tool that sits flat against the wall and cuts your carpet to the proper length. Using a wall trimmer instead of a utility knife will give you a clean straight cut.

It might seem difficult at first, but you’ll get the hang of it once you’ve placed a couple pieces of carpet.