Hi folks,

The man (I always make this assumption - it could easily be a woman) is
coming to fit the bedroom carpet on Saturday and I have to get the grippers
and underlay down before he comes. I think I know mostly what I need to do
but am just looking for clarification:

Grippers: I intend to nail these down (spikes pointing towards skirting of
course!) about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the skirting. Is this about the
right distance and how important is the distance? Anything to watch out for
when going round architrave/chimney breast?

Underlay: No problems with the cutting of this - although not entirely sure
how close it should get to the grippers - should it touch them or is there
are a gap? I also thought that it was just a case of putting it in place
but the packaging says that it should be fixed with staples or adhesive-
what methods of fixing would people recommend? Once the underlay is fitted,
what tape should be used to seal the joins?

Think that's about it - although any other tips/horror stories greatly
appreciated!

Thanks,
Ric.

--
Ric.

Ric wrote in message ...
Hi folks,

The man (I always make this assumption - it could easily be a woman) is
coming to fit the bedroom carpet on Saturday and I have to get the grippers
and underlay down before he comes. I think I know mostly what I need to do
but am just looking for clarification:

Grippers: I intend to nail these down (spikes pointing towards skirting of
course!) about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the skirting. Is this about the
right distance and how important is the distance? Anything to watch out
for
when going round architrave/chimney breast?

Underlay: No problems with the cutting of this - although not entirely
sure
how close it should get to the grippers - should it touch them or is there
are a gap? I also thought that it was just a case of putting it in place
but the packaging says that it should be fixed with staples or adhesive-
what methods of fixing would people recommend? Once the underlay is
fitted,
what tape should be used to seal the joins?

Think that's about it - although any other tips/horror stories greatly
appreciated!

If this "person" is a carpet fitter, I'd let them decide what goes where.

On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 11:54:38 +0100, Ric wrote:

Grippers: I intend to nail these down (spikes pointing towards
skirting of course!) about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the skirting.
Is this about the right distance and how important is the distance?

I'd talk to the fitter, the gap is probably dependant of the thickness
of the carpet but you are in the right ball park.

Underlay: No problems with the cutting of this - although not
entirely sure how close it should get to the grippers - should it
touch them or is there are a gap?

The people who just did a bedroom here the underlay was almost but not
quite touching the gripper strips. ie no real gap but not tightly
butted up.

what methods of fixing would people recommend?

Do not glue... You'll regret it when you come to change it in 10 or 20
years time or the next people to live there will curse you. Like I'm
cursing the previous ocuupiers who had everything stuck down here...

what tape should be used to seal the joins?

Don't think I saw any tape used at all on our recent fitting. Why
would you need it?

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"Ric" wrote:
Grippers: I intend to nail these down (spikes pointing towards skirting
of course!) about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the skirting. Is this about
the right distance and how important is the distance? Anything to watch
out for when going round architrave/chimney breast?

I go for 8mm - about 1/3 of an inch. If it's wrong the fitter
will probably take them up and put them back again (and
charge you). If they're too far from the wall, the carpet won't
fold snugly down into the gap and you might even be able to
see floorboard at the edge. 1/2 inch is way too much IMHO.

Underlay: No problems with the cutting of this - although not entirely
sure how close it should get to the grippers - should it touch them or is
there are a gap?

Touching is fine, but not so it bunches up against the gripper.

I also thought that it was just a case of putting it in place but the
packaging says that it should be fixed with staples or adhesive- what
methods of fixing would people recommend?

I have always stapled it with a staple gun, until the fitter who
did our lounge/diner left me a can of the spray adhesive they
use. Stuff is magic! Used it to put underlay in our porch and
it stuck the underlay to the (fairly rough) concrete like glue
(which isn't altogether surprising, but you know what I mean).
Also, staples are a pig to take out when you replace the carpet.

Once the underlay is fitted, what tape should be used to seal
the joins?

I've never bothered. Very little lateral force on a carpet, so as
long as you cut the underlay accurately you shouldn't need it.

HTH,
Al

In article ,
"Ric" writes:
Hi folks,

The man (I always make this assumption - it could easily be a woman) is
coming to fit the bedroom carpet on Saturday and I have to get the grippers
and underlay down before he comes.

The carpet fitter normally does that.

--
Andrew Gabriel

"stuart noble" wrote in message
...

Ric wrote in message ...
Hi folks,

The man (I always make this assumption - it could easily be a woman) is
coming to fit the bedroom carpet on Saturday and I have to get the
grippers
and underlay down before he comes. I think I know mostly what I need to
do
but am just looking for clarification:

Grippers: I intend to nail these down (spikes pointing towards skirting
of
course!) about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the skirting. Is this about the
right distance and how important is the distance? Anything to watch out
for
when going round architrave/chimney breast?

Underlay: No problems with the cutting of this - although not entirely
sure
how close it should get to the grippers - should it touch them or is there
are a gap? I also thought that it was just a case of putting it in place
but the packaging says that it should be fixed with staples or adhesive-
what methods of fixing would people recommend? Once the underlay is
fitted,
what tape should be used to seal the joins?

Think that's about it - although any other tips/horror stories greatly
appreciated!

If this "person" is a carpet fitter, I'd let them decide what goes where.

But if I let them fit it they will charge me!

"Ric" wrote in message
...

But if I let them fit it they will charge me!

How much? My gripper and underlay *fitted* in my
lounge/diner was cheaper than I could source it myself.

Al

"Al Reynolds" wrote in message
...
"Ric" wrote in message
...

But if I let them fit it they will charge me!

How much? My gripper and underlay *fitted* in my
lounge/diner was cheaper than I could source it myself.

Really? We did enquire at the carpet place and it appeared that their
cheapest quality stuff (which the bloke actually refused to recommend -
presumably becuase he wanted to sell us a dearer one) was similar in price
to B&Qs best quality stuff which I am told is very good! I beleive the
carpet grippers were fairly dear as well. We were told by the chap in the
shop that the bloke who fits it would charge extra on the day for fitting
anything that wasn't purchased from them. I know that probably doing him a
brew and maybe bunging him a tenner would probably have been enough but I
thought that I could do it myself. Didn't realise that it would be a
problem. You are all scaring me...someone say something reassuring!

On 05 Oct 2004, Ric wrote


"Al Reynolds" wrote in message
...
"Ric" wrote in message
...

But if I let them fit it they will charge me!

How much? My gripper and underlay *fitted* in my
lounge/diner was cheaper than I could source it myself.

Really? We did enquire at the carpet place and it appeared that
their cheapest quality stuff (which the bloke actually refused to
recommend - presumably becuase he wanted to sell us a dearer one)

Well, also probably because he's right to tell you to avoid the bottom-
line stuff... (I think we'd all agree that underlay can make or
break carpet: cruddy stuff can make even good carpet seem cheap 'n'
nasty.)

Out of curiousity, where were you buying this from? The price
comparisons I've done over the years seem to suggest the big-name
places have cheap "headline" (per square metre) prices, but that their
underlay, grippers and threshold bars are dear. I guess that's how
they make it work, but personally I'd rather be quoted a realistic
price for both, rather than "one low + one inflated".

(FWIW, we've used a local specialist firm for the past two big jobs at
our house; whilst his carpet initially seemed expensive, the total
cost -- with really good underlay -- was either the same or less than
we'd been quoted at the edge-of-town sheds.)

--
Cheers,
Harvey

"Harvey Van Sickle" wrote in message
...
On 05 Oct 2004, Ric wrote


"Al Reynolds" wrote in message
...
"Ric" wrote in message
...

But if I let them fit it they will charge me!

How much? My gripper and underlay *fitted* in my
lounge/diner was cheaper than I could source it myself.

Really? We did enquire at the carpet place and it appeared that
their cheapest quality stuff (which the bloke actually refused to
recommend - presumably becuase he wanted to sell us a dearer one)

Well, also probably because he's right to tell you to avoid the bottom-
line stuff... (I think we'd all agree that underlay can make or
break carpet: cruddy stuff can make even good carpet seem cheap 'n'
nasty.)

Agreed, but I was never going to get an honest answer from the man - he was
a smooth talking salesman and I could tell I had no chance of reasoning with
him.

Out of curiousity, where were you buying this from? The price
comparisons I've done over the years seem to suggest the big-name
places have cheap "headline" (per square metre) prices, but that their
underlay, grippers and threshold bars are dear. I guess that's how
they make it work, but personally I'd rather be quoted a realistic
price for both, rather than "one low + one inflated".

CarpetRight - and I agree with everything you say!

(FWIW, we've used a local specialist firm for the past two big jobs at
our house; whilst his carpet initially seemed expensive, the total
cost -- with really good underlay -- was either the same or less than
we'd been quoted at the edge-of-town sheds.)

I would do well in future to follow your example but at the moment I have
this carpet coming on Saturday and still need to get the grippers and
underlay down!

"Ric" wrote in message
...
CarpetRight

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

In which case you are better off fitting the
gripper etc. yourself. They'll rip you off for
it. Just go for 7-8mm all round - there's no
chance their fitter will moan - he's on a
pathetic hourly rate and he'll be blindingly
quick. FWIW, the fitter I had from Carpet
Right when I was in a rented flat was very
good, but I guess it's variable.

Al

"Al Reynolds" wrote in message
...
"Ric" wrote in message
...
CarpetRight

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

In which case you are better off fitting the
gripper etc. yourself. They'll rip you off for
it. Just go for 7-8mm all round - there's no
chance their fitter will moan - he's on a
pathetic hourly rate

In which case if he does identify a problem a tenner in his pocket should be
plenty enough for him to fix it for me - much less than I would have paid if
I had agreed for it to be fitted at the time of ordering!

and he'll be blindingly
quick. FWIW, the fitter I had from Carpet
Right when I was in a rented flat was very
good, but I guess it's variable.

I suppose they still have to rely on reputation to some extent - I know that
my parents got a carpet fitted from the same shop and it was fitted
perfectly - I would not have ordered from there had this not been the case.

On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 14:14:18 +0100, Ric wrote:

How much? My gripper and underlay *fitted* in my lounge/diner was
cheaper than I could source it myself.

Really?

Fitting came "free" with our recent small bedroom carpet (10m^2 of
carpet). Just for comparison, digs out bill 12.19m of gripper =A39.99
(82p/m), underlay (9mm Cirrus "Cloud 9") was charged at =A34.50m^2. The =

whole bill was =A3300 (well =A3300.77 mathematically but they knocked th=
e
77p off...).

I beleive the carpet grippers were fairly dear as well. We were
told by the chap in the shop that the bloke who fits it would charge
extra on the day for fitting anything that wasn't purchased from
them.

We didn't look at any sheds or similar places, on the basis that I
didn't feel up to fitting it myself without seeing it done at least
once and having looked at the price of knee kickers... The other
places we looked at all had "free" fitting.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 14:14:18 +0100, Ric wrote:

How much? My gripper and underlay *fitted* in my lounge/diner was
cheaper than I could source it myself.

Really?

Fitting came "free" with our recent small bedroom carpet (10m^2 of
carpet). Just for comparison, digs out bill 12.19m of gripper £9.99
(82p/m), underlay (9mm Cirrus "Cloud 9") was charged at £4.50m^2. The
whole bill was £300 (well £300.77 mathematically but they knocked the
77p off...).

I beleive the carpet grippers were fairly dear as well. We were
told by the chap in the shop that the bloke who fits it would charge
extra on the day for fitting anything that wasn't purchased from
them.

We didn't look at any sheds or similar places, on the basis that I
didn't feel up to fitting it myself without seeing it done at least
once and having looked at the price of knee kickers... The other
places we looked at all had "free" fitting.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

I'm surprised you can offer "free fitting" and charge for the materials that
are neccessary to fit a carpet.

In our local free rag their was an ad that said something like "you've
bought it we fit it". 'Phoned the guy up and had a piece, 7.50m2, fitted in
bathroom, including cutting around toilet and basin stand for £45.00 plus
£18.75's worth of Cloud9 underlay (£2.50m2) and 10mtr of Roberts gripper at
£3.20. Total job for £66.95.
This works out at c£8.93m2. including the carpet fitting or £2.93m2 for the
neccessary materials.
Daves fitting appears to have cost £5.50m2 for the neccessary materials.

In message , Ric
writes

"stuart noble" wrote in message
...

Ric wrote in message ...
Hi folks,

The man (I always make this assumption - it could easily be a woman) is
coming to fit the bedroom carpet on Saturday and I have to get the
grippers
and underlay down before he comes. I think I know mostly what I need to
do
but am just looking for clarification:

Grippers: I intend to nail these down (spikes pointing towards skirting
of
course!) about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the skirting. Is this about the
right distance and how important is the distance? Anything to watch out
for
when going round architrave/chimney breast?

Underlay: No problems with the cutting of this - although not entirely
sure
how close it should get to the grippers - should it touch them or is there
are a gap? I also thought that it was just a case of putting it in place
but the packaging says that it should be fixed with staples or adhesive-
what methods of fixing would people recommend? Once the underlay is
fitted,
what tape should be used to seal the joins?

Think that's about it - although any other tips/horror stories greatly
appreciated!

If this "person" is a carpet fitter, I'd let them decide what goes where.

But if I let them fit it they will charge me!



I pay £1.25 per yard for fitting grippers, underlay and carpet,
(including the supply of grippers and door plates. How much can it cost
for them to do the lot?

(Waiting for you to tell me that you are having 12,000 yards of carpet
fitted g)


--
Richard Faulkner

In message , Al Reynolds
writes
"Ric" wrote in message
.. .
CarpetRight

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

In which case you are better off fitting the
gripper etc. yourself. They'll rip you off for
it. Just go for 7-8mm all round - there's no
chance their fitter will moan - he's on a
pathetic hourly rate and he'll be blindingly
quick. FWIW, the fitter I had from Carpet
Right when I was in a rented flat was very
good, but I guess it's variable.

When CarpetRight did mine (insurance job) I can't speak for value of
money of gripper, underlay, etc, but the fitter was slow and good and
conscientious (even if CR had double booked him, and I only got half a
day out of him on the first day).

I gave the fitter an extra tenner because I was impressed by his work

--
geoff

"Richard Faulkner" wrote in message
...
In message , Ric
writes

"stuart noble" wrote in message
...

Ric wrote in message ...
Hi folks,

The man (I always make this assumption - it could easily be a woman) is
coming to fit the bedroom carpet on Saturday and I have to get the
grippers
and underlay down before he comes. I think I know mostly what I need
to
do
but am just looking for clarification:

Grippers: I intend to nail these down (spikes pointing towards
skirting
of
course!) about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the skirting. Is this about
the
right distance and how important is the distance? Anything to watch
out
for
when going round architrave/chimney breast?

Underlay: No problems with the cutting of this - although not entirely
sure
how close it should get to the grippers - should it touch them or is
there
are a gap? I also thought that it was just a case of putting it in
place
but the packaging says that it should be fixed with staples or
adhesive-
what methods of fixing would people recommend? Once the underlay is
fitted,
what tape should be used to seal the joins?

Think that's about it - although any other tips/horror stories greatly
appreciated!

If this "person" is a carpet fitter, I'd let them decide what goes
where.

But if I let them fit it they will charge me!



I pay £1.25 per yard for fitting grippers, underlay and carpet,
(including the supply of grippers and door plates. How much can it cost
for them to do the lot?

(Waiting for you to tell me that you are having 12,000 yards of carpet
fitted g)


--
Richard Faulkner
Um, isn't carpet and underlay based on a SQUARE yardage of some kind? I can
understand grippers being on a yardage round the perimeter of the room but
the shape of the room (think square vs. very long and thin vs., heaven
forbid, circular) surely has some impact on the amount of underlay.

Or are we talking about linear length of carpet taken off the roll, then
surely the width of the carpet would come into your calculation.

.... or perhaps this is the mythical builder's so-called "yard" that skip
capacity (presumably volume) seems to be measured in?

Regards,
Simon.

In message , Simon Stroud
writes
I pay £1.25 per yard for fitting grippers, underlay and carpet,
(including the supply of grippers and door plates. How much can it cost
for them to do the lot?

(Waiting for you to tell me that you are having 12,000 yards of carpet
fitted g)


--
Richard Faulkner
Um, isn't carpet and underlay based on a SQUARE yardage of some kind? I
can understand grippers being on a yardage round the perimeter of the
room but the shape of the room (think square vs. very long and thin
vs., heaven forbid, circular) surely has some impact on the amount of
underlay.

Or are we talking about linear length of carpet taken off the roll,
then surely the width of the carpet would come into your calculation.

... or perhaps this is the mythical builder's so-called "yard" that
skip capacity (presumably volume) seems to be measured in?

Regards,
Simon.

Sorry.

I pay £1.25 per square yard of carpet being fitted, for fitting
grippers, underlay and carpet, (including the supply of grippers and
door plates).

--
Richard Faulkner

On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 18:58:54 +0100, sw wrote:

Fitting came "free" with our recent small bedroom carpet...

I'm surprised you can offer "free fitting" ...

I didn't offer "free" fitting I recieved it. I knew full well that the
cost of the fitting materials and labour would all be covered by the
cost of the materials. Thats why the word free is in quotes in my
orginal post...

... 7.50m2, fitted in bathroom, including cutting around toilet and
basin stand for =A345.00 ....

Carpet at =A36/m2 I'd wouldn't worry about fitting myself an fupping it =

up. This bedroom carpet was =A324.99/m2, wool mix, heavy duty, expensive=

to make a mistake on... The bedroom in question belongs to a 4 year
old boy so in the next 10 to 15 years it is going to take a beating.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 18:58:54 +0100, sw wrote:

Fitting came "free" with our recent small bedroom carpet...

I'm surprised you can offer "free fitting" ...

I didn't offer "free" fitting I recieved it. I knew full well that the
cost of the fitting materials and labour would all be covered by the
cost of the materials. Thats why the word free is in quotes in my
orginal post...

Opps! as you get older the distance between brain and keyboard seems to get
longer and allow errors to creep in - substitute "they" for "you".

... 7.50m2, fitted in bathroom, including cutting around toilet and
basin stand for £45.00 ....

Carpet at £6/m2 I'd wouldn't worry about fitting myself an fupping it
up. This bedroom carpet was £24.99/m2, wool mix, heavy duty, expensive
to make a mistake on... The bedroom in question belongs to a 4 year
old boy so in the next 10 to 15 years it is going to take a beating.

Good luck with that, if you can get him to 19 without having to change the
carpet you will have done well. If my 16 year old is anything to go by the
carpet will be hammered beyond belief, I've seen pub carpet that doesn't get
as much wear!.


--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail