There are lots of do it yourself websites and magazine articles that suggest that DIY carpet fitting is something that anyone can do with great results. However before you buy your next new carpet and start carpet fitting lets look at all stages of fitting a carpet and see what is needed to do to get a well fitted carpet in a reasonable amount of time and what are the risks and costs of getting it wrong.
Step 1: Estimating the carpet and accessories needed
If you are buying you new carpets from a shop or a carpet fitter they will measure up the rooms and work out, not only how much carpet you need but also, accessories such as underlay, gripper, adhesive, carpet tape and doorbars. Lots of online carpet retailers will give you guidance on how to measure rooms, the key things to remember are:
- Carpets come in fixed widths typically 3.66m (12 foot), 4m (13 foot) or 5m (16.25 feet).
- Make sure you measure into the alcoves, recesses and doorways
- Carpets are typically cut to the nearest 5cm(2 inches) so make sure you add an extra 5cm (2 inches) to your measurements and if there is a pattern don’t forget to allow for pattern matching.
- Work out which accessories you need and how much you need. Items like underlay, gripper and carpet tape often come in fixed pack sizes, for example underlay is typically sold in 15m2rolls, so you might end up buying much more than you need. For example if you room is 20m2 and you will have to buy 2 rolls of underlay and end up with 10m more than you need.
You could get this wrong in one of two ways, either you order too much or not enough. If you order too much carpet, this is not a disaster however you will have wasted some money. Inevitably you will have some of the accessories left because of the minimum pack sizes. If you don’t order enough carpet this is an absolute disaster, it will not fit the room and the company you bought the carpet from does not have to give a refund because the carpet has been cut especially for you. If your professional carpet fitter or retailer gets the sizes wrong they have to order another piece and bear the cost! In addition a carpet fitter should only charge you for the accessories, like underlay and gripper they actually use so this is a saving on do it yourself carpet fitting.
Step 2: Getting your new carpets and flooring delivered
If you are doing DIY carpet fitting, you will either need to collect your new carpets from the shop or you will need to arrange to have them delivered. Generally online carpet retailers and carpet shops will charge to deliver a carpet, (Carpetright charge for delivery even if you use their carpet fitters!) this is because they have to pay someone with a van or lorry to do this delivery. You will also need to be at home to accept the delivery. If you are buying online check the delivery terms and conditions, because some companies use very large lorries that cannot access small estates and country lanes. The other alternative is to collect the carpet from the shop or warehouse. Only do this if you have a vehicle that can take the rolled up carpet. Folding a carpet is one of the worst things you can do it, because it creates creases that sometimes cannot be removed in the carpet fitting process even by professional carpet fitters.
If the lorry cannot get to your house you may have to pay for a different delivery method. If you are collecting your carpet in a van it should work out fine. If you squash your new carpet into a car you may have ruined it before you even start fitting.
Step 3: Preparing the Room for New Carpets
All of the things you need to do to get a room ready for a new carpet can be done by any competent DIY’er and even if you do have your carpet fitting done professionally you can save some money by doing the preparation yourself. You need to remove as much of the furniture as you possibly can. You may not be able to remove larger items like wardrobes, beds or sofas, but you should remove all the contents and small items from the room, like books, ornaments or clothes from wardrobes for example. You need to uplift and remove any old flooring, most carpet fitters will do this for you, but they will make a charge because of the time it takes. Carpet fitters will usually take your old carpet away and dispose of it safely, but as businesses, they have to pay to dispose of carpets. However this is another thing you can do yourself, you can either cut the old carpet and flooring up small, put it in the car and take it to your local tip. The other alternative is to arrange with the council to pick up big items. In some places there is no charge for this.
If you are fit and able it is easy to uplift your old carpets and flooring and if you can get your old carpet to the tip or get it picked up by the council for Free this is definitely something you can do well and that will save you some money.
Step 4: The carpet fitting begins
There are lots of sites that tell you or show you (You Tube) how to fit carpets, so before you start have a look at them. The main pieces of specialist equipment you will need is a Carpet Kicker or Stretcher and a carpet bolster (this is used to tuck the carpet onto the gripper), these cost as little as £30 plus delivery. You should also by knee pads. If you have bad knees or a bad back stretching a carpet with a carpet kicker will make it even worse as it is very strenuous. Carpet fitters who do apprenticeships take two years to become NVQ qualified fitters so it may take more than a weekend to get used to the stretcher and cutting in the carpet. If everything goes to plan you will have a lovely fitted carpet, but before starting it is worth thinking about wrong and what will it cost if it does.
The main problems I have seen with DIY carpet fitting include; damaging the new wallpaper/paint while getting the carpet completely flat; cutting the carpet too short in the doorway; making a wrong cut anywhere in the room; not stretching the carpet enough; putting the gripper too close or not close enough to skirting; cutting the skirting boards; not fixing the carpet to the gripper properly; putting doorbars in the wrong place;
The only thing that will ruin your new carpet completely is if you make a cut in the wrong place in the carpet which means the carpet is too small to fit the room or you have accidentally cut through two layers of carpet. In this case you will have wasted all your money.
Damaging your new wallpaper or paint work anywhere in the process is inconvenient as you will have to touch it up after you have finished fitting your carpet.
If you don’t stretch your carpet enough it will not look as good as it could, will have wrinkles and may wear out quicker. You can find out more about the problems a badly stretched carpet can cause here.
A badly fitted carpet will always look bad and you may have to look at it everyday for a number of years. So in conclusion should you do your own carpet fitting or employ a professional carpet fitter. A new carpet is one of the most expensive things you will buy when you decorate a room in your home, so you want it to look as good as possible and last for a long time.
The cost of getting the carpet estimating and fitting wrong is very high, so for the small extra cost is worth paying professional carpet fitters to do the estimating and carpet fitting. Anyone can do carpet laying but only a professional carpet fitter should be relied on for a well fitted carpet. So I would recommend spending that little bit extra and get your carpets fitted by a professional local qualified carpet fitter.
Even if you are not looking for carpets in Leicestershire, Rugby, or the surrounding areas please visit our website and request Stewart’s Free flooring checklist, which will help you when you buy your next carpets or new flooring.
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