Hi

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her hallway. It's
an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an alcove etc.

Currently it's got several overlapping rugs covering the lino, and has had
for years. She's not lookign for a gold plated job, just very cheap and good
'enough'. The new carpet is a foam backed offcut

I've laid carpet and vinyl in simpler spaces no problem, already got a big
stanley knife (and hooked blades if needed).

Any tips for doing it right first time?

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 20:58:45 GMT,it is alleged that "PC Paul"
spake thusly in uk.d-i-y:

Hi

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her hallway. It's
an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an alcove etc.

Currently it's got several overlapping rugs covering the lino, and has had
for years. She's not lookign for a gold plated job, just very cheap and good
'enough'. The new carpet is a foam backed offcut

I've laid carpet and vinyl in simpler spaces no problem, already got a big
stanley knife (and hooked blades if needed).

Any tips for doing it right first time?

Rough cut it in, make sure with foam back carpet your blades are
SHARP, (some of the pile types also blunt blades very quickly) It's
very unforgiving of blunt blades. Take it SLOWLY.

Fit one edge at a time, so you can shift it over if you make a mistake
towards the beginning. I am sure other tips will be forthcoming.

Good luck.

--
Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while.

On 14 Aug 2005, PC Paul wrote

Hi

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her
hallway. It's an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an
alcove etc.

Currently it's got several overlapping rugs covering the lino, and
has had for years. She's not lookign for a gold plated job, just
very cheap and good 'enough'. The new carpet is a foam backed
offcut

I've laid carpet and vinyl in simpler spaces no problem, already
got a big stanley knife (and hooked blades if needed).

Any tips for doing it right first time?

Not much help from this end, since after trying various carpet-fitting
techniuqes I gave up and now pay a carpet fitter for anything fancier
than a store-room.

What a pig of a job that is -- but, sincerely, I hope it goes well for
you.


--
Cheers,
Harvey

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 21:21:24 GMT, Harvey Van Sickle
wrote:


Any tips for doing it right first time?

Pay either a young oik, or a a retired wrinkly carpet fitter 15 quid
to do it for you. (Might be a bit dearer nowadays).


Not much help from this end, since after trying various carpet-fitting
techniuqes I gave up and now pay a carpet fitter for anything fancier
than a store-room.

What a pig of a job that is

IME laying Vinyl is worse. it doesn't co-operate *At All*.

-- but, sincerely, I hope it goes well for you.

DG

Derek ^ wrote:
On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 21:21:24 GMT, Harvey Van Sickle
wrote:


Any tips for doing it right first time?

Pay either a young oik, or a a retired wrinkly carpet fitter 15 quid
to do it for you. (Might be a bit dearer nowadays).

I had a wrinkly one in mind but he's retired with bad knees and won't touch
it :-(

And anyway there's a free meal in it for me and she's a fantastic cook ;-)

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 20:58:45 GMT, "PC Paul" wrote:

Hi

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her hallway. It's
an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an alcove etc.

Currently it's got several overlapping rugs covering the lino, and has had
for years. She's not lookign for a gold plated job, just very cheap and good
'enough'. The new carpet is a foam backed offcut

I've laid carpet and vinyl in simpler spaces no problem, already got a big
stanley knife (and hooked blades if needed).

Any tips for doing it right first time?

After my last attempt at the landing (6 doors) I swore never to
attempt it again. It was an absolute pig of a job. That was using the
latest 'felt' backed carpet. What IS fun and quite a pleasant job is
laying laminate flooring. Very satisfying when you tighten the cramps
and watch the join close up.

MM

PC Paul wrote:

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her hallway. It's
an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an alcove etc.

Good luck....

Any tips for doing it right first time?

Not a job I like, but last time I had a fitter here I did watch what he
did carefully to see if there were any tips to pickup:

He started by placing the carpet in the middle of the space and folding
the edges in onto itself so that he had gap round the edges of the room.
Next he moved the whole carpet into about the right place by taking an
edge in turn, holding it and placing his leg over the edge to use his
heal to pull the mass of carpet toward him.

Once it was centralised he folded it out one side at a time and cut it
roughtly to size (leaving perhaps 6" spare at every edge). This made it
manageble and easy to fold out into the nooks and crannies. He then went
round and cut it again (with a new blade) - this time much closer to
size - but still about a half inch too big.

Next he stretched it with a knee kicker, and pushed it down onto the
gripper rod - leaving the edge sticking up at the skirting.

Finally using a wide stair tool (i.e. bit like a wide blunt, smooth
bolster chisel), he tucked all the edges in behind the gripper rod
without cutting then again (that was a trick I had missed in the past
trying to get it cut spot on).

End result was very good.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
PC Paul wrote:

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her
hallway. It's an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an
alcove etc.

Good luck....

Any tips for doing it right first time?

Not a job I like, but last time I had a fitter here I did watch what
he did carefully to see if there were any tips to pickup:

He started by placing the carpet in the middle of the space and
folding the edges in onto itself so that he had gap round the edges
of the room. Next he moved the whole carpet into about the right
place by taking an edge in turn, holding it and placing his leg over
the edge to use his heal to pull the mass of carpet toward him.

Once it was centralised he folded it out one side at a time and cut it
roughtly to size (leaving perhaps 6" spare at every edge). This made
it manageble and easy to fold out into the nooks and crannies. He
then went round and cut it again (with a new blade) - this time much
closer to size - but still about a half inch too big.

Next he stretched it with a knee kicker, and pushed it down onto the
gripper rod - leaving the edge sticking up at the skirting.

Finally using a wide stair tool (i.e. bit like a wide blunt, smooth
bolster chisel), he tucked all the edges in behind the gripper rod
without cutting then again (that was a trick I had missed in the past
trying to get it cut spot on).

End result was very good.

Thanks very much, sounds like a good approach. No gripper rods here, it'll
be spray goop, or even just free floating... Can't get the really neat edges
you get by folding it down the back of the grippers, but then again it's a
narrow hallway and she often walks round in bare feet, so grippers would be
a liability!

Also IIRC you really ought to have underlay as well to use grippers.

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:56:12 GMT, "PC Paul" wrote:

John Rumm wrote:
PC Paul wrote:

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her
hallway. It's an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an
alcove etc.

Good luck....

Any tips for doing it right first time?

Not a job I like, but last time I had a fitter here I did watch what
he did carefully to see if there were any tips to pickup:

He started by placing the carpet in the middle of the space and
folding the edges in onto itself so that he had gap round the edges
of the room. Next he moved the whole carpet into about the right
place by taking an edge in turn, holding it and placing his leg over
the edge to use his heal to pull the mass of carpet toward him.

Once it was centralised he folded it out one side at a time and cut it
roughtly to size (leaving perhaps 6" spare at every edge). This made
it manageble and easy to fold out into the nooks and crannies. He
then went round and cut it again (with a new blade) - this time much
closer to size - but still about a half inch too big.

Next he stretched it with a knee kicker, and pushed it down onto the
gripper rod - leaving the edge sticking up at the skirting.

Finally using a wide stair tool (i.e. bit like a wide blunt, smooth
bolster chisel), he tucked all the edges in behind the gripper rod
without cutting then again (that was a trick I had missed in the past
trying to get it cut spot on).

End result was very good.

Thanks very much, sounds like a good approach. No gripper rods here, it'll
be spray goop, or even just free floating... Can't get the really neat edges
you get by folding it down the back of the grippers, but then again it's a
narrow hallway and she often walks round in bare feet, so grippers would be
a liability!

Also IIRC you really ought to have underlay as well to use grippers.




The underlay sits in the depression created by the gripper rods ..
Using foamback you should use some form of underlay made for foamback
..it used to be a heavy paper but i think you can get some sort of
stuff similar to what is used for putting under laminate floors .It
stops the rubber sticking to the floor and keeps dust from coming
through gaps in floorboards .
....
Stuart





--

Shift THELEVER to reply.

"PC Paul" wrote in message
. ..
Hi

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her hallway.
It's an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an alcove etc.

Currently it's got several overlapping rugs covering the lino, and has had
for years. She's not lookign for a gold plated job, just very cheap and
good 'enough'. The new carpet is a foam backed offcut

I've laid carpet and vinyl in simpler spaces no problem, already got a big
stanley knife (and hooked blades if needed).

Any tips for doing it right first time?

I would make a template from brown packing paper (preferably the stuff that
comes in 120cm wide rolls) first. Then cut the carpet slightly oversize from
that and trim it to fit after laying.

Colin Bignell

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her hallway.
It's an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an alcove etc.

Currently it's got several overlapping rugs covering the lino, and has had
for years. She's not lookign for a gold plated job, just very cheap and
good 'enough'. The new carpet is a foam backed offcut

Use the lino as a template outside but give yourself an extra inch on top?
Then trim around in situ?? £20 to get my last carpet laid btw

PC Paul wrote:
Hi

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her hallway. It's
an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an alcove etc.

Currently it's got several overlapping rugs covering the lino, and has had
for years. She's not lookign for a gold plated job, just very cheap and good
'enough'. The new carpet is a foam backed offcut

I've laid carpet and vinyl in simpler spaces no problem, already got a big
stanley knife (and hooked blades if needed).

Any tips for doing it right first time?

If the carpet is definitely large enough to cover the L shaped floor,
the first job is to lay the carpet down in the longest leg of the L,
ensuring that the outside edge follows the wall parallel and then make a
diagonal cut at the inside of the L, so that the carpet will go round
the corner. This will result in both inside legs of the L having quite a
large amount to cut off. Don't be tempted at this point to cut off that
part of the carpet that is bunched up on the inside of the L.

Now check that the carpet overlaps all walls that it has to be cut to,
including any deep doors. Ensure that the carpet, where it goes around
the corner is flat on the floor. You can now rotate/move the carpet if
you find that there is not enough to fill the short L shape. If all is
not fine at this point, you can move the carpet so that the diagonal cut
is away from the wall. If all is fine, then rough cut the large amount
off that I mentioned earlier. You should end up with at least an
overlap/excess all around every wall and door opening of about 3 inches
(75 mm).

The next phase is to make the cuts from the edge of the wall/door
opening that are at 90 degrees from the wall door opening (That is
towards you). Make any deep cuts so that you have some overlap. e.g..
You are looking at a wall with a door in it and the carpet has to go
towards the door opening. Cut the left hand side so that at the edge of
the carpet that sticks through the door is cut too far to the left
inside the doorway, but is accurate at the edge of the door frame
nearest to you. Depending on the cross section of the door frame, you
may have to make several cuts. You will end up with long pieces of
overlap and lots of strips around door frames. When you are satisfied,
do a final trim.

Now all you have to do is cut the carpet along the L shape. As far as
the walls go, I would fold the carpet towards you, look at the bend
radius and mark the backing of the carpet with a pen every 3 inches and
trim it too that line. If you err on the side of a tiny excess (use
scissors for cutting this), then you can go back and re-cut, or you
might be able to tuck the edge under the skirting board if there is a
gap (Use a narrow scraper to do this). Once you get the balance right,
you should be able to quickly trim all the other edges to fit. Facing
the wall, you should now be cutting left to right. Just make sure that
the carpet does not creep as you fit it, or it will not look right when
the job is done. Measure and check for alignment twice or more and cut once.

HTH

Enjoy the meal

Dave

Dave wrote:
PC Paul wrote:
Hi

A friend has asked me if I can put a bit of carpet down in her
hallway. It's an awkward space with an L bend, 6 doors off it, an
alcove etc. Currently it's got several overlapping rugs covering the
lino, and
has had for years. She's not lookign for a gold plated job, just
very cheap and good 'enough'. The new carpet is a foam backed offcut

I've laid carpet and vinyl in simpler spaces no problem, already got
a big stanley knife (and hooked blades if needed).

Any tips for doing it right first time?

If the carpet is definitely large enough to cover the L shaped floor,
the first job is to lay the carpet down in the longest leg of the L,
ensuring that the outside edge follows the wall parallel and then
make a diagonal cut at the inside of the L, so that the carpet will
go round the corner. This will result in both inside legs of the L having
quite a large amount to cut off. Don't be tempted at this point to
cut off that part of the carpet that is bunched up on the inside of
the L.
Now check that the carpet overlaps all walls that it has to be cut to,
including any deep doors. Ensure that the carpet, where it goes around
the corner is flat on the floor. You can now rotate/move the carpet if
you find that there is not enough to fill the short L shape. If all is
not fine at this point, you can move the carpet so that the diagonal
cut is away from the wall. If all is fine, then rough cut the large amount
off that I mentioned earlier. You should end up with at least an
overlap/excess all around every wall and door opening of about 3
inches (75 mm).

The next phase is to make the cuts from the edge of the wall/door
opening that are at 90 degrees from the wall door opening (That is
towards you). Make any deep cuts so that you have some overlap. e.g..
You are looking at a wall with a door in it and the carpet has to go
towards the door opening. Cut the left hand side so that at the edge
of the carpet that sticks through the door is cut too far to the left
inside the doorway, but is accurate at the edge of the door frame
nearest to you. Depending on the cross section of the door frame, you
may have to make several cuts. You will end up with long pieces of
overlap and lots of strips around door frames. When you are satisfied,
do a final trim.

Now all you have to do is cut the carpet along the L shape. As far as
the walls go, I would fold the carpet towards you, look at the bend
radius and mark the backing of the carpet with a pen every 3 inches
and trim it too that line. If you err on the side of a tiny excess
(use scissors for cutting this), then you can go back and re-cut, or
you might be able to tuck the edge under the skirting board if there is a
gap (Use a narrow scraper to do this). Once you get the balance right,
you should be able to quickly trim all the other edges to fit. Facing
the wall, you should now be cutting left to right. Just make sure that
the carpet does not creep as you fit it, or it will not look right
when the job is done. Measure and check for alignment twice or more and
cut once.
HTH

Enjoy the meal

Dave

Brilliant, thanks.

I can do the meal bit. The rest only time will tell ;-)

PC Paul wrote:


Brilliant, thanks.

I can do the meal bit. The rest only time will tell ;-)

Then let us know how you went on (with the carpet, that is)

Dave