Carpet Laying Tips

Carpet Laying Auckland Services

Carpet laying is a difficult job. We recommend leaving the carpet laying work to the professionals to achieve a good result. Carpets are expensive, and a mistake at carpet laying will cost a lot of money and leave a room looking very untidy.

Carpet laying is deceiving. On the face of it, it seems no more complicated than rolling out the carpet and tacking it down. But there is a good reason why professional carpet installers exist.

Steam ‘n’ Dry Carpet Repairs Auckland Service has operated through its branch offices in South Auckland, North Shore, East, West Auckland and Hibiscus Coast since 1987.

If you’re installing your carpet, here are a few laying carpet repairs Auckland tips to help you preserve your sanity.

1. You Can’t Just Use Regular Shop Tools. You’ll Need to Rent Special Carpet Laying Tools.

Some tools will be regular “shop” tools: tape, hammer, tin-snips, scissors, snap-line, utility knife, and a stapler. The other carpet-specific tools should be rented or borrowed, such as steam iron, power stretcher, and knee kicker. It is far too expensive to purchase these tools and use them only once.

2. It Is Impossible To Do Carpet Laying Without a Carpet Stretcher

You can try these carpet laying tips, but the results will look terrible. Wrinkles and lumps will quickly form. If you are not prepared to take on a carpet stretcher, you may want to think about hiring carpet installers. Stretching is 90% of the job, and competent carpet installers know how to do this.

3. Consider Carpet Pile Direction When Seaming

If your carpet has a pattern, you cannot seam two pieces in any combination. But even for non-patterned carpeting, you can detect the direction of the carpet’s pile by looking at it from different directions in intense light. Keep carpet pile consistent from piece to piece.

Avoid Placing Carpet Tack Strips Against the Wall.

You will need the extra space to squeeze the carpet through. Estimate the gap this way: you want the thickness of the carpeting, but just hairless. If it’s the exact thickness of the carpet, the carpet may pull out. The carpet snugs in there nice and tight. It happens when you’re making the gap a bit narrower than the width of the carpet.

5. For Patterned Carpet, Buy 5% Extra

You will experience more waste materials with patterned carpet than with non-patterned carpet. You need to cut away more waste material to make two pieces of patterned carpet mate together. The larger the pattern, too, the more waste you will have.

6. Do Not Add Padding on the Tackless Strips

Okay, this is not so much a “tip” as it is a hard-and-fast rule. You do not lay the padding over the tackless strips. Keep the filling within the perimeter formed by the strips. Padding should touch the edge of the tackless strips but not overlap it. If the padding overlaps, then you will have a nice, fat lump around the edge of your carpet—not very attractive.

Note: You can also lay your carpet without fixing it to the floor. However, this method is not suitable for big rooms like double-sided tape.

Since 1987, Steam ‘n’ Dry Carpet Repairs Auckland Service has offered professional carpet repairs, laying, flood fix, stain removal, carpet cleaning and expert drying repairers in North Shore, South, East and West Auckland.

By Graeme Stephens

Posted: 15/04/2019 Updated: 11/01/2021