"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
JoeJoe wrote:
- How far from the skirting should the wooden gripper rods be fitted?

The same distance as the thickness of the carpet.

So very very close to the skirting then - just a few millimetres away?


The new carpet goes in two rooms - one with "normal" skirting and the
other with skirting that was fixed around 3/4" above the floor (not sure
why, was there when I got it),

Perhaps the floor's dropped.

Not in this case, as it runs around the whole room.

so I fixed a quarter round/circle bidding to the bottom of it to cover
the void. Should the rooms be treated differently as a result - i.e.
should I fit the grippers further or closer to the skirting?

That's not going to work terribly well. You would have done
better to re-do the skirtings, or fill the gap with batten.

I suspected that, but the only reason I did this was because it was already
half done using quarter circle, especially around the problematic areas -
i.e. bay window, and a few other odd angles that I did not fancy replacing.

- Can I assume that once the gripper rods are in place I simply unroll
the underlay in the space in the middle, butting it against the rods?

Yup. You don't want big gaps, but you don't want to have to
ruckle the stuff up to get it in, it should lie flat.


Also, stupid question, I know, but which side goes up? The underlay I
use is similar to this one http://www.underlayuk.co.uk/luxury.php

Smooth side up.

Are you sure? My gut feeling was the other way round (good point I asked
first...).


- Does the underlay need to be fixed to the wooed floor once laid? i.e.
carpet tacks, etc.

You could put some staples in, and tape the joins, but this is
something the fitter can do very quickly. If you do put tacks
in, make sure they're "home" or you'll get pimples in your
carpet. I'd just leave it up to the fitter.



PS: the carpet is a cheapish felt back one if that makes a difference.

These are often glued straight to the floor (around the
edges)! It's reasonable carpet for the price, should be fine
with the underlay as well.

All the carpets I had in the past were glued, but considering the state of
the floorboards in these rooms I didn't think that the glue was going to
work. In the past the fitter ended up using a few staples in the places were
the glue did not catch, and it looked awful... Hence the grippers/underlay
this time.

Will the felt-baked carpet be OK with the grippers? Someone above suggested
otherwise...