Installing carpeting?
Question:I have installed carpet by myself in two different rooms with nothing more than a razor blade. However, the room I intend to carpet next is a little bit larger and I will have to seam the carpet. I've never had to do that before. What equipment is absolutely necessary? Is doing the seam easy?
Answers:
I've fixed up a few houses for extra money and always used same carpet guys. It looks like they use carpet tape and an iron. But I have seen the difference between they guys with and without experience. You might want to have someone take this room on for ya.
First question I have to ask, is how big of a seam do you need to make?
I recommend using a power-stretcher, and seaming iron. You will also need a good straight edge. Half the job of getting a good seam, is making a good cut, on both pieces of carpet. By the way... if you are making this seam to make the carpet large enough to fit the room.both pieces of carpet need to be running the same direction. If you try to use scraps, and turn them sideways, or even opposite directions, hehehe.. .youre going to have a VERY obvious seam, no matter how well you do the work.
One trick to getting a good seam, use a VERY sharp knife, and cut through BOTH pieces of carpet at the same time. Literally, overlap the two edges, and cut through them both, to create the seam. Even if you cut crooked, the pattern is transferred to both edges.
Next, take your time... patience prevails when putting a seam together. Use a good heavy glue-tape. Turn the iron on a lower setting...when you can slide it along the tape, without much effort, you're ready to go. The heat from the iron will melt the glue, and the iron will glide across it, heating up new tape as it comes across it. Pull the carpet edges together, as evenly as possible, behind the iron, and make sure they get pressed down into the hot tape. A block of 2x4, or a roller are good for this... it lets you press the carpet into the tape without burning your fingers, hehehe. I recommend starting out with a low setting on the iron, because it gives you more time to work behind it. The hotter the iron, the faster you have to move. That's good if youve had a lot of practice, heheheh.
After the seam is done, THEN stretch the carpet a bit, and finish trimming it out around the perimeter.
I will add this... If you do everything else, you can probably hire a carpet layer to do the seam, for about as much as it would cost you to rent the tools to do it yourself. If you do it yourself, keep in mind, practice helps. Leave yourself some extra carpet where you intend to put the seam, just in case you have to re-work it. Oh, and while you have the power stretcher rented. stretch those rooms you installed using only a knife. It will help prevent their wrinkling up later.
I know you can purchase 8 ft straight edges for around $20 at most building supply stores. If your seams are in doorways, then a carpenter's square works pretty well.
In the 'links' section below, I've provided some links to pictures of the types of tools you'll want to consider. Oh, that 'seaming cutter'-- makes it easier to get a straight cut, but you can do it with a utility knife, just takes a steadier hand, hehehe.
Have Fun
You will need a carpet iron. I don't suggest trying this yourself as it takes some practice and is easy to screw up.
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