Carpet Fitter – What to Expect from a Professional

I have been a carpet fitter since I left school and I am passionate that carpet fitters should, whatever your budget, make sure that your new carpet looks as good as it possibly can for as long as possible. This is why you should invest in getting your new carpets fitted properly. However getting a new carpet is not something we do every day so you need to know what to expect when your new carpet is fitted by a professional carpet fitter.

What makes a professional carpet fitter?

If it was just a case of buying a carpet knife and hiring a knee kicker then we could all be great carpet fitters. Carpet fitting is a skilled profession that depends on practical experience and knowledge. Everyone knows practice makes perfect, so how can anyone who only does occasional carpet fitting be expected to do a good job. During training carpet fitters learn different methods of fitting carpets and when to use them. Which direction the pile of a carpet should face? Which accessories, including door bars, underlay and adhesives are most appropriate for this installation? You are paying your carpet fitter to bring all this experience into your home. You should expect your fitter to either have National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) in floor laying or to be accredited as an Approved or Master fitter of the National Institute of Carpet and Floorlayers.

Can you see the join?

Eric Morcambe was always asking if anyone could see the join in Ernie’ hairline, luckily nobody could. With carpets a bad join will not only stick out like a sore thumb it will also be the first place that the carpet will start to wear. Ideally you want to avoid joins in carpets, but there are just some circumstances where you have to have them. Firstly most standard carpets come a maximum of 5m wide, so if your room is more than 5m in both directions you will need a join. The other reason to have joins is to minimise carpet waste, typically this happens with hall, stairs and landings. Your carpet fitter should discuss where he is going to locate the joins and whether the material you have chosen will join well. Some carpet products just do not make for  good join, however good your carpet fitter is.  So before you buy your carpet get advice from your carpet fitter or carpet retailer on the carpet and whether it will join well.

Before the Carpet Fitting Day

On the fitting day, the carpet fitters will need the room to be as clear as possible. You really should at the very minimum move all the small and precious stuff from the room. Carpet fitters can usually happy to work round big pieces of furniture, like the sofa or the bed. Carpet fitters usually work on an hourly rate so if they have to spend time moving your DVDs or statue collection they will charge.

What About the Old Flooring

If you are not able to uplift and get rid of your old flooring, you will need to ask your fitter to do this. Companies have to pay to dispose of old carpets & flooring safely and legally, so you should expect will have to pay for them to take it away. If you can take the flooring to your local tip, why not save a bit of money and do this.  TOP TIP: if you are just dumping your old carpets, don’t take it up in one piece, it will be heavy and difficult to put in the average car.  Cut it into smaller strips and then take it up and put in the car.  

Preparation! Preparation! Preparation!

The most important part of any job is the preparation. Any carpet fitted on a bad surface will look terrible. Even if your subfloor is perfect, the very least a fitter should do once the old carpet is removed is sweep up. Even the smallest piece of debris under a fitted carpet will soon stand out.

Mind the Gap

If you already have carpet fitted in most cases there will be sufficient clearance between the bottom of your door and the new carpet. However if you are having thicker underlay or carpet your doors will need to be eased. Depending on the type of door, your carpet fitter may be able to do this for a small charge. Make sure you discuss this in advance, you don’t want the carpet fitter to have left site and all the doors in your home have been taken off.  I once had to visit a house where the fitters had managed to close the front door but the poor customer could open it again because it was too tight.

Carpet Fitters Create Rubbish

You should expect your carpet fitter to take away all the rubbish generated during the fitting process, like the plastic wrappings, small remnants and off cuts of carpet or underlay. Sometimes there will be some bigger remnants of carpet that could be used as rugs /mats, if you want these let your fitter know. They may even be able to arrange for them to be bound.

Plan to be available

Unless you know your carpet fitter well, it’s a good idea to be at home on the day your carpet is installed or at the very least be available at the end of the phone for any questions. Children and animals seem to be fascinated by carpet fitters but it is not really safe for them to be around carpet knives and other tools so if possible try to keep them out of the way while the work is taking place.

At the end of the job

Before the carpet fitter leaves, walk through the installation together and check that you are happy with the work. Ideally you should do this check after the carpet has been vacuumed.

Everything Changes

A new carpet will shed and for the first few times you vacuum it your vacuum with be stuffed full of fluff. Don’t worry it is not falling apart. Regular vacuuming is one of the best things for keeping a carpet looking as good as new. Carpets can also stretch for the first few months after fitting. If you start to see wrinkles or ripples appear, then your fitter will need to stretch the carpet again. In most cases this will be done at no extra charge.  Contact your retailer as soon as they appear because if they are left too long it can create permanent damage to the pile of your lovely new carpet.

If you have any questions about carpets or carpet fitting please do not hesitate to contact me.  Please request one of my free carpet and flooring checklists to help everyone looking to buy new carpets.  Of course if you are looking for new carpets in our carpet fitting area, near Leicester, Northampton or Rugby and would like a home consultation (Free & No obligation) just contact me.

NICF

Comments are closed.