If you are putting carpet on a hardwood floor where you didn’t need to remove carpet, you’ll just need to do this step.
For instance, your room may be 13 by 10 feet (4. 0 by 3. 0 m) If your room isn’t perfectly rectangular, divide it into rectangles and measure the length and width of each one. Alternatively, force the room to be roughly rectangular and add a bit extra to your estimate. For example, if one wall has a small part that dips out, measure the 2 walls and then increase your estimate by 1 foot (0. 30 m) on that wall.
For example, if your room was 13 by 10 feet (4. 0 by 3. 0 m), then you multiply 13 by 10 to get 130 square feet (12 m2).
When deciding on tack strips, opt for the widest you can find. [5] X Research source
If you need to cut a strip to size, slice through it with a handsaw. [7] X Research source On concrete, you may be able to just pound it in the same way if the concrete is soft enough. If not, drill holes where the nails go using a concrete bit of the same size and then pound aluminum nails in. You’ll also need tacking strips around things like floor vents.
Make sure you’re matching up the seams evenly so that you don’t have hills and valleys on the floor.
With concrete, you need to put padding glue down underneath the padding instead. In that case, just lift up one side at a time to apply the glue in an even layer.
You can leave it rolled up during this time.
Make sure to leave some extra on either end so you don’t end up with a piece that’s too short. While there are specialty tools designed for this purpose, a standard utility knife is surprisingly efficient at cutting carpet.
Check the texture of the carpet to make sure it’s going the direction you want.
If possible, try to place seams in inconspicuous, low-traffic areas.
A carpet roller is a small roller that looks a little like a painting roller. Wait 20 minutes after doing seams before tacking and stretching it. Keep moving down the seam this way until it’s stuck in place
You may want to use knee pads for this process! You will have carpet sticking up over the trim. A knee kicker is a solid metal tool that’s about 1. 5 inches (3. 8 cm) long with “teeth” that will grip the carpet on one end and a heavily padded “butt” on the other. It stretches the carpet over the tack strip. The tacks grab the carpet and hold it firmly in place.
Make sure all the lumps are out of the carpet. You can use a carpet stretcher for this process, which is a good idea if you have a large room. To use one, place the flat end against the wall you tacked on first, then place the flat part on the floor. It has a lever that gives you leverage and the head pushes the carpet across the floor to stretch it. [18] X Research source
You can use a box cutter for this purpose, but it must have a new, sharp blade. Run it underneath the baseboard to cut the carpet. If it starts getting dull, replace the blade. Also, use a box cutter to cut out spaces for your floor vents.
If you yank up the strip without checking, you might pull fibers from the carpet that cause a run.
