I'm going to show you how to lay carpet.
The tools we need to get this done are a smooth edge, hammer, hoop nails, knee kicker, a couple
of trusty knives, and a staple hammer.
I recommend knee pads for safety.
We'll also need under felt to finish it off, a ripple trim, and obviously the carpet.
So to prep my floor, I'm going to need a floor scraper, a broom, and a vacuum to get my sub-floor
perfect.
Now I'm going to get everything out of the way so I can get started.
For best results, I need a perfectly clean floor, so what I'm going to do now is getting
rid of any plaster dag, preexisting staples, and making sure the sub-floor is perfectly
clean.
Basically now, I've done my floor prep.
I can now just run the vacuum over.
So I'm going to continue with my prep now, while laying out my Smoothedge.
So Smoothedge is a product that you spread around the perimeter of your wall with nails
facing the wall, and that'll allow you to get better grip when you're installing your
carpet.
So now I've got my Smoothedge spread out.
It's now time to secure it to the floor.
So remembering we need a required space off the wall, so therefore I would suggest maybe
a finger.
So now I've got my Smoothedge down.
The nails are facing towards the wall.
It's time to secure it by hitting the heads of the nails down.
So now I've got my Smoothedge down.
I'm going to secure it with more hoop nails.
You can use a single stick of Smoothedge, but for my preference, for maximum grip, I
like to double up and use two pieces of Smoothedge.
To do that, I recommend you cut one stick in half first, and that'll allow you to stagger
your joints for maximum strength in your Smoothedge.
Then, come back with another full stick.
So as you can see, I've now come to a corner.
The way we get around that is just by grabbing a bolster or tucker, hitting it with a hammer.
Simple as that.
For this, I'm going to put an extra hoop nail in.
The process is repeated coming around the wall, remembering to re-secure your Smoothedge
with additional hoop nails.
So now, we continue this process around the rest of the room.
So now I've finished my Smoothedge, and as you can see, I've doubled it up all around
the room.
All but around the door jambs, as you don't need as much stretch to be held around your
door jambs.
So now it's time to roll out my under felt and cut it to size.
When rolling out your under felt, it's best to work from one wall across to the other.
I'm now going to slide it into position.
Make sure that your edge of your under felt is hard up against your Smoothedge.
So now I've got my under felt in position.
It's time to cut it in.
The easiest way to do that is by grabbing a knife hard up against the back edge of your
Smoothedge, and just following that around the perimeter of the room.
Now time to cut into my door jambs.
It's just as simple as folding it back, and following the line.
And repeat that around the rest of the room.
When stapling your under felt down, you're going to need enough to make sure it's secure.
Now I'm going to roll out my second roll of under felt.
Now I'm going to make sure that my two edges of the under felt are sitting together, and
that's commonly called a butt joint.
Now I've got my under felt in.
I can now do as I've done on the other side, and cut it all in.
So now my under felt's down and secure.
I'm now ready to carpet.
I'm going to bring it in, roll it out, square it up, and it's most important that when you
roll your carpet out, that you're actually walking into the pile so the pile is brushed
up.
So now I've got it rolled out.
What I've done is, I've squared it up by just kicking it out with my feet.
And as you can see, that's my straight edge, so that's my starting point.
So now I'm ready to start fixing my carpet.
So what I need to do is I need to fix it to the Smoothedge.
To do that, it's just as simple as grabbing your knee kicker, and just tapping it onto
the Smoothedge.
In your DIY kit, you'll get a carpet tucker.
What I like to do is, is just rub that against the Smoothedge.
By doing that, that's going to penetrate the back of the carpet, and give you good anchorage.
When you using one of these, it's important to center your shoulder above your hand.
That allows you maximum weight so you don't slip and pull your carpet out.
So as you can see, I've come down about a quarter of the way of the room.
Now what I need to do is take the stretch down to the other side of the room.
The reason I'm starting here is because it's basically the same point where I finished
on the opposite wall, and I want to work to a corner.
You never work down a wall.
You always work towards a corner.
Now I'm at this point, and I've got the stretch across the length, what I can do is I can
tap this wall on, and then cut down my walls.
By doing that, I've ensured that I haven't over-cut or under-cut any walls.
Now I can start cutting down my carpet.
Remember, when using a utility knife, always wear gloves.
Now I'm ready to tap the rest of the wall on.
So now I'm going to take my stretch across the width, and I'm going to keep it there
by just putting in some hoop nails.
Now I've finished all my stretching.
It's time to cut in.
So what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to cut from the back of the carpet.
That way I'm reassuring myself that I'm not cutting into my skirting boards and damaging
them.
To do that, utility knife and gloves, once again.
And all that we're doing is just getting as close as we can to the edge of the carpet
with a nice, sharp blade.
Take your time.
Then I can grab my carpet tucker, and it's just as simple as poking it down behind the
Smoothedge and the skirting board.
Then I'll continue that process around the entire room, until it's all tucked and cut.
What I'm doing here is a seam join.
The easiest way to do that is get a nail, put it between the pile, and just gently manipulate
it along, and it will just form a nice, straight line.
Once I've got that, then I can cut that open with a utility knife.
So once again, put your gloves on.
Now I've got my seam ready.
What I have to do is I have to position my tape in position, and generally what you want
to do is you want to make sure it's centered under the first run.
What I need to do now is pull my carpet back towards myself, so I've got the two carpets
meeting together.
I'm going to peel the protective layer off the tape, so therefore that'll expose the
adhesive.
After that's done, I want to push one side down, then it's just as easy as sliding my
second piece to make sure, once again, they've joined together.
Remember, and when you're joining your carpet, it's very important that both piles are running
the same direction.
I'm continuing my carpet throughout the house, but if I wasn't, what I would commonly do
is I would cut one of these down, known as a ripple trim, and secure that across my doorway.
That would alleviate any trip points, and it would allow me to continue the transition
throughout the house.
As you can see, it's time consuming, but DIYer can achieve a great result.
And that's how you lay carpet.