First of all may we start by saying that we always recommend that you get a professional carpet fitter to install your carpets as this will result in a better result in our opinion to the finished article.
However if you feel like tackling this part by yourself then here is a brief guide to fitting a carpet.
Firstly make sure that you have the correct tools to hand along with all the products you will need.
What you will need
- Hammer
- Stanley/Utility knife
- Measuring Tape
- Knee Kicker
- Carpet Spray Glue
- Gripper Rods
- Door Plate
- Underlay
Now to get started
Once you have removed everything from the room, IE furniture, old carpets and underlays you will then need to give your floor a quick Hoover to get rid of any dust from the floor.
Once this has been done you will then need to attach around the perimeter of the room the gripper rods. These need to be fixed with the hammer and make sure that the spikes are facing into the wall.
These need to be place approx ½” from the wall. The only place you will not put the gripper rods is in the doorway entrance where you will instead put a door plate.
Now, onto the underlay. Roll out the underlay on the floor in lengths making sure you don’t overlap them as this will show up when you lay your carpet. Then cut and trim to the inside of the gripper rods. You can then at this point spray down the edges with some spray glue to keep it in place.
Now to probably the most difficult part of the carpet fitting, the actual carpet laying itself!
Why?
Well at this point onwards if you make any mistakes they will show up and tend not to be able to be covered.
First though get one side of your carpet and put it into place along one side of the room with an overlap of about 10cm, which can be trimmed in later on. Once you have done this move the rest of your carpet into place so you have an overlap on every side.
Then start in one corner of the room and tuck/push your carpet into the crease between wall and floor. As you are doing this the carpet will start to be gripped by the gripper rods that you had fitted earlier.
When you have done this you can then start to trim the carpet by putting your knife into the crease made and cutting. (please note we recommend not doing more that about 6” at any one time).
When you have done this along one side of the room you then need to to stretch the carpet over to the other side of the room. You will do this with your Knee Kicker by placing it onto the carpet about 12” away from the opposite side of the room and giving it a "kick” with your knee. (Hence the title Knee Kicker). Then go through the same process as before of tucking and cutting of the carpet.
Now do the same with the other two sides of the carpet. Finally you will have the doorway left. Where you have placed the doorplate which should be within the doorframe, you will need to trim of any excess carpet and tuck it into the doorplate.
Now all you have to do is stand up, if your knees will allow you to, and admire your handy work. Oh and yes bring back in all the furniture.
To maintain you new Cormar Carpet we recommend that you vacuum your carpet between 2/3 times per week as this will remove any dust or dirt that would build up in the carpet fibres.
Over time regular foot traffic will flatten the pile surface in the main walkways. These walkways will appear lighter or shaded in comparison to other parts of the lesser used carpet areas. This shading/flattening happens to all carpets with a pile surface.