How to install carpet, quick and dirty

[DarkSkies]

A lot of the bigbox stores have specials on the install. The fine print is you have to buy the premium carpet with the padding.

If it's a house you'll be living in for a few years, fine, pay the extra $$. However rentals are a different category. Your job and the money you make on them depends on getting the job done, and quickly.

This tutorial is tailored toward replacing carpets in rentals to save $$.

Some of the cheapest rentals I have seen don't have carpeting. They have vinyl adhesive backed squares on the floor. The owner just buys a bunch extra and replaces the bad ones when they get burned or marked, etc.

This makes sense if you have tenants that are careless, or if you think there could be a roach problem in the future. And you will run into roaches sooner or later when dealing with lower end tenancies, it's something you should be prepared for.

Remember sometimes it's not about doing the pristine job or perfection, it's about getting the job done. We laid 2 rooms of carpet in 3 hours the other night, which included prying up and replacing the moldings, and the transitions.

Git er done.

[DarkSkies]

1. Remove the old carpet. Be careful not to mark up or break the molding.

2. Ask yourself if you can save the padding. This is expensive. If it has deteriorated so bad that it's lumpy, you should spring for new padding. Padding is a high markup item for them, so only buy it if you really need it.

3. Cut up the old carpet in reasonable pieces so the trash men will take it away. Tie with cheap twine to make their job easier.

[DarkSkies]

4. Make sure you have carefully measured the dimensions of the room/rooms you are doing. It's the mark of lousy planning if you come up short on one side or other.

5. If the carpet is bigger than 3' overage on one side, consider cutting it outside on the lawn, or similar place. It will make it a lot easier to maneuver when you bring it inside.

6. Pre fit the carpet, making a mental note of where you will need to cut for the closets and transitions, etc. Will you need any extra for the "tongue" transition into another room?

7. Cut your carpet. The first cut I like to make about 2" bigger in case there are any adjustment issues.

[DarkSkies]

8. Finish your cuts and position the carpet into place. It's good that it doesn't fit too snugly against the wall, as this could cause it to bind in the middle.

9. If your carpet is higher end, and thicker, you will definitely need to rent a "kicker" which helps you position the carpet as you bang out the small humps with your knees. If you're doing that, also make sure the carpet hangs correctly on the carpet tack molding on the perimeter. Again, it's important that it doesn't go exactly to the edge if you are putting 1/4 round on top of it.

10. After you have made all the cuts, smoothed out all the slight bulges, check all areas before you re-install your 1/4 round molding. This is the last part of the job, but one that if done carefully will make it so that people will not be able to tell the difference between you doing it and a professional installer doing it.

[DarkSkies]

11. Re-install your 1/4 round, starting from one side of the room and working your way to the other. Re-install all the transition moldings carefully.

12. Stand back and admire your work.

(sorry there are no more pics, we did this in a hurry and were tired)

[hookset]

That carpet looks great. Nice job of installing.

On a second note: In life I have found that getting the job done is not always the best way to go. If you do a poor job just to get it done, you will be having to redue the job in the near future. Double time is not a $ saver.

[DarkSkies]

On a second note: In life I have found that getting the job done is not always the best way to go.

Hey Hookset, no offense taken, my perspective comes from having an effed up family. One of my family members takes 4 weeks or more to paint one room, and can't hold a job because everything he does has to be perfect. So that's where my comments come from, though I do agree with yours as well.

[buckethead]

One of my family members takes 4 weeks or more to paint one room, and can't hold a job because everything he does has to be perfect. So that's where my comments come from, though I do agree with yours as well.

dark, I don't know if that's even possible to take 4 weeks to paint one room. Are you talking about framing and construction, or just the paint?

[DarkSkies]

Buckethead, sadly I'm just talking about the painting. And then after it's done, there's lots of chatter about what a great job it is. In the real world ya can't make a profit if it takes ya 4 weeks to paint one room. It ain't like it's the Sistine Chapel, just one lousy bedroom. This is the world I live in, lucky me.