I'm about to research DIY carpet fitting, just wondering if anyone has
done the same and were you pleased with the results?

The first room i'm planning to do is only about 3m x 3m so not too much
of a liability.

On 27/01/2021 16:11, R D S wrote:
I'm about to research DIY carpet fitting, just wondering if anyone has
done the same and were you pleased with the results?

The first room i'm planning to do is only about 3m x 3m so not too much
of a liability.

Last one did was 3m x 3.5m (mini cinema room) and just used double
sided carpet tape stuck to the floor screed all around the perimeter of
the room and stuck it down. It's been fine for the last 3 or 4 years.
Carpet was a foam-backed off-cut, no underlay, underfloor heated.

Easy peasy.

On 27/01/2021 16:23, www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:
just used double
sided carpet tape stuck to the floor screed all around the perimeter of
the room and stuck it down. It's been fine for the last 3 or 4 years.
Carpet was a foam-backed off-cut, no underlay, underfloor heated.


No need for a knee kicker then? It's tight enough?

On 27/01/2021 16:46, R D S wrote:
On 27/01/2021 16:23, www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:
just used double
sided carpet tape stuck to the floor screed all around the perimeter of
the room and stuck it down. It's been fine for the last 3 or 4 years.
Carpet was a foam-backed off-cut, no underlay, underfloor heated.


No need for a knee kicker then? It's tight enough?

Being quite a small area there wasn't much carpet to stretch so me and
the lady of the house just pulled it tight as we went around the edge in
small-ish sections, pulling of a few feet of the tope side of the tape,
stretch, peel, stick and so on.

Couple of arm chairs and a TV unit and there's not much space left for
anything to move anywhere.

Big(ish) dog is know to go in the room from time to time and attempts to
adjust the carpet with her paws before curling up for a snooze and she's
not made any impact on things.

We did a number of bedrooms the same way in my parents house years ago.
They were fine too, only remembered when we came to empty the house and
pull up the carpets to be left with a 3" perimeter of backing foam stuck
to the floor boards.

Anything bigger or if using underlay I presume grip-strip and a
stretcher would be required though.

On 27/01/2021 16:46, R D S wrote:
On 27/01/2021 16:23, www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:
just used double
sided carpet tape stuck to the floor screed all around the perimeter of
the room and stuck it down. It's been fine for the last 3 or 4 years.
Carpet was a foam-backed off-cut, no underlay, underfloor heated.


No need for a knee kicker then? It's tight enough?

If you're fitting a 'normal' carpet plus underlay - rather than
foam-backed - a knee kicker is a good idea.

Fix some gripper strips all round the room, about 1/4"from the skirting,
with the spikes facing the skirting. Leave at least 2 or 3 inches all
round for trimming. Use the knee kicker to stretch the carpet onto the
spikes. Push a bolster chisel into the gap by the skirting so that the
surplus carpet is upright against the skirting. Trim the surplus with a
sharp Stanley knife - cutting against the skirting just below the top
surface of the carpet.
--
Cheers,
Roger

On 27/01/2021 17:39, Roger Mills wrote:
On 27/01/2021 16:46, R D S wrote:
On 27/01/2021 16:23, www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:
just used double
sided carpet tape stuck to the floor screed all around the perimeter of
the room and stuck it down. It's been fine for the last 3 or 4 years.
Carpet was a foam-backed off-cut, no underlay, underfloor heated.


No need for a knee kicker then? It's tight enough?

If you're fitting a 'normal' carpet plus underlay - rather than
foam-backed - a knee kicker is a good idea.

Fix some gripper strips all round the room, about 1/4"from the skirting,
with the spikes facing the skirting. Leave at least 2 or 3 inches all
round for trimming. Use the knee kicker to stretch the carpet onto the
spikes. Push a bolster chisel into the gap by the skirting so that the
surplus carpet is upright against the skirting. Trim the surplus with a
sharp Stanley knife - cutting against the skirting just below the top
surface of the carpet.

Also tape the underlay strips togther or they will move slightly
allowing a groove in the carpet. Some installers use one of those
tacking devices that fixes the underlay to the (wooden) floor
with 'staples'.

On 27/01/2021 16:11, R D S wrote:

I'm about to research DIY carpet fitting, just wondering if anyone has
done the same and were you pleased with the results?

Yup, and yup... in most cases onto gripper rod.

However, make sure you buy a "stair tool" (i.e. the wide polished blunt
bolster style chisel thing) for tucking the edges into the gap behind
the grippers, and also a knee "kicker" stretching tool so that you can
stretch it into place properly - that way it won't stretch after fitting
and get lose and baggy.

The first room i'm planning to do is only about 3m x 3m so not too much
of a liability.

What I normally do is fit gripper strip all round about 1/2" from the
walls (heavier carpets might want a bit more space). Fit underlay inside
the perimeter of the gripper and tack into place with a hammer style
stapler.

Then unfold/roll the carpet into place and manhandle it so you have an
approx fit against a wall. Tamp an edge down onto a length of the
gripper (I normally do a bit in the centre first). Then stretch a bit
onto the opposite gripper. The repeat across the other axis of the room.
You now have it pulled tight across in both directions, and can stretch
into the corners. I normally cut in in a couple of steps - say with a
few inches to spare on the stretching phase so that you don't have to
work with loads of excess carpet, but still have wiggle room. Then a
final cut in when it all mostly in place.

Its useful to keep in mind that you can cut the carpet a bit longer than
"exact fit" because you can hide the lose edges in the space between the
gripper and the wall/skirting. It also allows more margin for error when
fitting.

--
Cheers,

John.

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

On 27/01/2021 16:46, R D S wrote:
On 27/01/2021 16:23, www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:
just used double
sided carpet tape stuck to the floor screed all around the perimeter of
the room and stuck it down. It's been fine for the last 3 or 4 years.
Carpet was a foam-backed off-cut, no underlay, underfloor heated.


No need for a knee kicker then? It's tight enough?

It may depend on the quality of the carpet and/or the size of the room.

I did a 3m x 3.5m room with chimney breast and bay window (so not
completely rectangular) in felt backed carpet last year. Felt backed has
replaced foam backed carpets of old and apparently is much better in
that it has the tendency not to stretch and lays flatter when
installing. Felt backed is the low end of the market. I laid it on top
of some 9mm cloud nine underlay which I stapled down to my wooden
floor-boards. I also used grip rods around the perimeter of the room. It
is possible to get velco type grip rods for felt backed carpet but
supply is like obtaining rocking horse **** and at premium prices.

It took me around 3+ hours, including underlay but excluding the time to
COMPLETELY clear the room. Because of the size/make of this cheap carpet
I had to buy a 4m wide carpet as they didn't stock/manufacture it in 3m
widths, so 4m x 3.5m. It was F****G heavy, especially to get it up some
stairs with a 90 degree bend near the top. With a spare 1m (ish) of
carpet on one side I found it difficult at first to get it to lay
anywhere near flat. Eventually after trimming it went down flat with a
lot of feet shuffling across the width and diagonals of the room. I
found that I did have to use a knee kicker to get the now cut carpet
into the walls and on to the gripper rods. I also had a carpet fitters
bolster to bash in (by hand) the carpet at the edges.

When I replaced a second carpet 3 months later, and of around the same
size, I elected to have it fitted!!!! This was a harder wearing carpet
for the lounge at 3x the price of my bedroom felt back carpet and with a
coated hessian type backing. It also had a thicker pile and judging by
the sample in the shop a heavier weight. This was laid on a 12mm thick
cloud nine underlay.

The professionals, two men, took around 30 minutes to install.
Some observations:-
They also stapled the the underlay to the wooden floor and used some
spray on glue for a small area on concrete where a fireplace surround
had been removed.
Grip rod was installed around the perimeter of the room.
They first roughly trimmed the carpet around the whole perimeter and cut
to the apex of any outward facing corners.
The carpet was then trimmed to size one edge at a time.
The technique they used to hit the knee kicker was somewhat different to
my attempt (which hurt my knee). They kept their bodies closer to the
floor and hit the knee pad with the legs more out-stretched from their
torsos. The carpet definitely moved quite a lot when they hit the knee
kicker.

I should also add that for both rooms the doors had been removed and I
needed to trim the bottoms afterwards before refitting.

When searching around a few carpet shops during the lull in last years
lockdowns I found the best value to be from a local family run business
who offered free fitting for carpets/underlay costing over £200 per room
with no delivery charges etc. They didn't however offer a disposal
service for old carpets (at any price). I believe, from friends'
experiences, that it common place for the carpet fitters to leave you
with all the offcuts and trimmings.
The "extra" charges from some carpet retailers soon made the overall
cost a lot higher for the same or similar carpets.

From my experience in the past. If you have a moving or squeaking floor
board before carpet fitting you will still have a moving or squeaking
floorboard afterwards. Fix the problem whilst you have a clear floor.

If disposing of an old carpet to a local tip cut it into 1m strips
before rolling it up and hold the roll in place with gaffer/duct tape.
It makes transporting a lot easier.


--
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On 27/01/2021 17:39, Roger Mills wrote:

Push a bolster chisel into the gap by the skirting so that the
surplus carpet is upright against the skirting. Trim the surplus with a
sharp Stanley knife - cutting against the skirting just below the top
surface of the carpet.

Although they must have a lot of experience in knowing where to cut my
carpet fitters cut first, used the knee kicker second and then tucked
any extra down behind the gap in the gripper rod and skirting board with
a carpet bolster.


--
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alan_m was thinking very hard :
If disposing of an old carpet to a local tip cut it into 1m strips before
rolling it up and hold the roll in place with gaffer/duct tape. It makes
transporting a lot easier.

Last year I replaced the hall, stair and landing carpet, with some
expensive carpet, which a friend was replacing with new. Nothing at all
wrong with it, more than enough for my area. Our 'old' carpet had been
chewed by our dog when a pup, the same week we had it fitted.

The company fitting my friends new carpet, had agreed to refit friends
carpet, but instead they just delivered it and walked. No expert, but I
had fitted carpet to simple areas before. I left the original underlay
and gripper strips in place and reused them. I lacked a knee kicker, so
seeing the price of them I made one.

Just piece of timber, with a series of sharp nails through the end at
an angle, then some thick insulation on the knee end.

It's not perfectly laid, there is slight ripple by the front door, but
good enough. I disposed of the old carpet over several weeks, by
cutting it down to small sections and putting them in the wheelie bin a
bit at a time, when there was space.

And in five years all the foam turns to black dust and makes the floor lumpy
and it comes up at the corners? Or is foam backed better these days.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"www.GymRatZ.co.uk" wrote in message
...
On 27/01/2021 16:11, R D S wrote:
I'm about to research DIY carpet fitting, just wondering if anyone has
done the same and were you pleased with the results?

The first room i'm planning to do is only about 3m x 3m so not too much
of a liability.

Last one did was 3m x 3.5m (mini cinema room) and just used double
sided carpet tape stuck to the floor screed all around the perimeter of
the room and stuck it down. It's been fine for the last 3 or 4 years.
Carpet was a foam-backed off-cut, no underlay, underfloor heated.

Easy peasy.

"Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)" wrote in
:

And in five years all the foam turns to black dust and makes the floor
lumpy and it comes up at the corners? Or is foam backed better these
days.
Brian


Felt Backed seems to have taken over at the budget end - thank goodness,

On 28/01/2021 09:18, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
And in five years all the foam turns to black dust and makes the floor lumpy
and it comes up at the corners? Or is foam backed better these days.
Brian


I doubt if you will find foam backed any-more. It seems to have been
replaced with felt backed.

The last time I took up a foam back carpet after around 20 years of
originally being laid the Henry dusts bags came into play to pick up all
the foam dust There was a lot of it.

Rubber backed underlay of the same age (in another room) faired a lot
better except in a few high traffic areas where the rubber was coming
off the backing in chunks.


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 28/01/2021 09:32, JohnP wrote:
"Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)" wrote in
:

And in five years all the foam turns to black dust and makes the floor
lumpy and it comes up at the corners? Or is foam backed better these
days.
Brian


Felt Backed seems to have taken over at the budget end - thank goodness,


Foam backed is certainly available and I was about to go with it but you
two have put me off somewhat.

Quicker, easier, cheaper... Or a better job. The age old conundrum.

This is at work though, I might not be here in 5 years.

In article ,
Brian Gaff \(Sofa\) wrote:
And in five years all the foam turns to black dust and makes the floor
lumpy and it comes up at the corners? Or is foam backed better these
days. Brian

Cloud9 underlay. Costs more, but seems to last forever.

--
*Rehab is for quitters.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 28/01/2021 10:48, R D S wrote:


Quicker, easier, cheaper... Or a better job. The age old conundrum.

This is at work though, I might not be here in 5 years.

Carpets in industrial premises tend to be somewhat different to domestic
carpets especially for areas in corridors where there is high foot
traffic. For domestic, people want a longer softer pile whereas in most
industrial premises or shops it appears to need short hard wearing pile.
Where I've seen carpet being laid in offices it has been 100% glued to
the floor - presumably to stop a thinner product from buckling and
forming a trip hazard.
--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 28/01/2021 12:38, alan_m wrote:
On 28/01/2021 10:48, R D S wrote:


Quicker, easier, cheaper... Or a better job. The age old conundrum.

This is at work though, I might not be here in 5 years.

Carpets in industrial premises tend to be somewhat different to domestic
carpets especially for areas in corridors where there is high foot
traffic. For domestic, people want a longer softer pile whereas in most
industrial premises or shops it appears to need short hard wearing pile.
Where I've seen carpet being laid in offices it has been 100% glued to
the floor - presumably to stop a thinner product from buckling and
forming a trip hazard.

If I was doing that i'd need to do something with the floor, we're
dealing with old gnarly floorboards.

But it certainly won't be heavy traffic. It's a room I intend for my
office in an upstairs corner where i'm planning to work like a recluse.

On 28/01/2021 13:42, R D S wrote:
On 28/01/2021 12:38, alan_m wrote:
On 28/01/2021 10:48, R D S wrote:


Quicker, easier, cheaper... Or a better job. The age old conundrum.

This is at work though, I might not be here in 5 years.

Carpets in industrial premises tend to be somewhat different to
domestic carpets especially for areas in corridors where there is high
foot traffic. For domestic, people want a longer softer pile whereas
in most industrial premises or shops it appears to need short hard
wearing pile. Where I've seen carpet being laid in offices it has been
100% glued to the floor - presumably to stop a thinner product from
buckling and forming a trip hazard.

If I was doing that i'd need to do something with the floor, we're
dealing with old gnarly floorboards.

But it certainly won't be heavy traffic. It's a room I intend for my
office in an upstairs corner where i'm planning to work like a recluse.

Traffic isn't just walking it is sitting and moving your feet around
whilst sat at your desk. It needs to be a fairly hard wearing carpet for
general office use or you will have huge balls of fluff forming at your
feet and where the chair castors run.

Even with the right sort of carpet you get a bit of that when it is new.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
R D S wrote:
On 28/01/2021 12:38, alan_m wrote:
On 28/01/2021 10:48, R D S wrote:


Quicker, easier, cheaper... Or a better job. The age old conundrum.

This is at work though, I might not be here in 5 years.

Carpets in industrial premises tend to be somewhat different to domestic
carpets especially for areas in corridors where there is high foot
traffic. For domestic, people want a longer softer pile whereas in most
industrial premises or shops it appears to need short hard wearing pile.
Where I've seen carpet being laid in offices it has been 100% glued to
the floor - presumably to stop a thinner product from buckling and
forming a trip hazard.

If I was doing that i'd need to do something with the floor, we're
dealing with old gnarly floorboards.

But it certainly won't be heavy traffic. It's a room I intend for my
office in an upstairs corner where i'm planning to work like a recluse.

I really miss the old Arding and Hobbs near Clapham Junction. Got taken
over by Debenhams.

The old store had a department for room sized remnants - presumably from
their carpet fitting service. Where you could buy at considerable discount
the very best quality carpet, designed for use in the highest traffic
areas like pubs and so on.

Found exactly what I wanted there for the 'eating' end of my kitchen - the
working part obviously something more designed for spills, etc. And some
40 years later - and a couple of kitchen refurbishments - it still looks
as new.

But that wouldn't suit those who treat floor covering like paint - to be
re-done every couple of years.

--
*No sentence fragments *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 28/01/2021 13:42, R D S wrote:
On 28/01/2021 12:38, alan_m wrote:
On 28/01/2021 10:48, R D S wrote:


Quicker, easier, cheaper... Or a better job. The age old conundrum.

This is at work though, I might not be here in 5 years.

Carpets in industrial premises tend to be somewhat different to
domestic carpets especially for areas in corridors where there is high
foot traffic. For domestic, people want a longer softer pile whereas
in most industrial premises or shops it appears to need short hard
wearing pile. Where I've seen carpet being laid in offices it has been
100% glued to the floor - presumably to stop a thinner product from
buckling and forming a trip hazard.

If I was doing that i'd need to do something with the floor, we're
dealing with old gnarly floorboards.

But it certainly won't be heavy traffic. It's a room I intend for my
office in an upstairs corner where i'm planning to work like a recluse.

Hardboard? Then if you don't want the comfort/insulation of underlay you
could use spray adhesive for a foam or plastic backed carpet.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 28/01/2021 14:08, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


The old store had a department for room sized remnants - presumably from
their carpet fitting service. Where you could buy at considerable discount
the very best quality carpet, designed for use in the highest traffic
areas like pubs and so on.

I can remember going around a local carpet warehouse and seeing a high
quality carpet on sale at a ridiculously low price. It was a whole roll
of a remnant left over from carpeting a night club/disco. Unfortunately
rather garish colour with their logo embedded in the pattern at around 3
foot intervals


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 28/01/2021 14:08, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


The old store had a department for room sized remnants - presumably from
their carpet fitting service. Where you could buy at considerable discount
the very best quality carpet, designed for use in the highest traffic
areas like pubs and so on.

I can remember going around a local carpet warehouse and seeing a high
quality carpet on sale at a ridiculously low price. It was a whole roll
of a remnant left over from carpeting a night club/disco. Unfortunately
rather garish colour with their logo embedded in the pattern at around 3
foot intervals

Yes - for a largish order it's surprisingly cheap to have your own design.

Remember the complaints about the BBC club having carpets made with their
logo. By the usual suspects in the press. Who weren't interested that the
club itself paid, not the BBC.

--
*Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Thursday, 28 January 2021 at 13:42:36 UTC, R D S wrote:
On 28/01/2021 12:38, alan_m wrote:
On 28/01/2021 10:48, R D S wrote:


Quicker, easier, cheaper... Or a better job. The age old conundrum.

This is at work though, I might not be here in 5 years.

Carpets in industrial premises tend to be somewhat different to domestic
carpets especially for areas in corridors where there is high foot
traffic. For domestic, people want a longer softer pile whereas in most
industrial premises or shops it appears to need short hard wearing pile..
Where I've seen carpet being laid in offices it has been 100% glued to
the floor - presumably to stop a thinner product from buckling and
forming a trip hazard.
If I was doing that i'd need to do something with the floor, we're
dealing with old gnarly floorboards.

But it certainly won't be heavy traffic. It's a room I intend for my
office in an upstairs corner where i'm planning to work like a recluse.

I'd consider using carpet tiles. We used some in the downstairs WC - and put down some of the cheap fibre underlay intended for laminate flooring. That smoothed off the floor and made a contribution towards sound and thermal insulation. Lasted many years - and left it in perfectly acceptable state when we moved.

On 28/01/2021 14:30, alan_m wrote:
On 28/01/2021 14:08, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


The old store had a department for room sized remnants - presumably from
their carpet fitting service. Where you could buy at considerable
discount
the very best quality carpet, designed for use in the highest traffic
areas like pubs and so on.

I can remember going around a local carpet warehouse and seeing a high
quality carpet on sale at a ridiculously low price. It was a whole roll
of a remnant left over from carpeting a night club/disco. Unfortunately
rather garish colour with their logo embedded in the pattern at around 3
foot intervals

Yup I have had many decent carpet bargains out of the Kenbro remnants
room :-) (although not often seen ones with logo's on though!)


--
Cheers,

John.

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

On 01/02/2021 01:36, John Rumm wrote:
On 28/01/2021 14:30, alan_m wrote:


I can remember going around a local carpet warehouse and seeing a high
quality carpet on sale at a ridiculously low price. It was a whole
roll of a remnant left over from carpeting a night club/disco.
Unfortunately rather garish colour with their logo embedded in the
pattern at around 3 foot intervals

Yup I have had many decent carpet bargains out of the Kenbro remnants
room :-) (although not often seen ones with logo's on though!)

This was in Kenbro - but decades ago


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 01/02/2021 08:16, alan_m wrote:
On 01/02/2021 01:36, John Rumm wrote:
On 28/01/2021 14:30, alan_m wrote:


I can remember going around a local carpet warehouse and seeing a
high quality carpet on sale at a ridiculously low price. It was a
whole roll of a remnant left over from carpeting a night club/disco.
Unfortunately rather garish colour with their logo embedded in the
pattern at around 3 foot intervals

Yup I have had many decent carpet bargains out of the Kenbro remnants
room :-) (although not often seen ones with logo's on though!)

This was in Kenbro - but decades ago

Yup, still my goto place for carpets! I recall getting carpet from them
so long ago they still shared space next to the bus garage!

(which was demolished years ago to build the Sainsbury's complex near
Victoria circus)


--
Cheers,

John.

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

On 01/02/2021 17:47, John Rumm wrote:

Yup, still my goto place for carpets! I recall getting carpet from them
so long ago they still shared space next to the bus garage!

(which was demolished years ago to build the Sainsbury's complex near
Victoria circus)



I can only remember them from Sutton road and I can remember the bus
garage. I used to drink in the pub opposite (The Park?) and the bus
drivers used to come in for a pint before work
--
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