Fitting

There are two avenues to installing a carpet. The first is DIY, the second is a professional carpet fitter. Suffah Carpets does not provide carpet fitting services, at this moment. However below are signposting to resources you may find useful*.

DIY:

The biggest incentive here is the savings associated with DIY. Below are several online resources that discuss how to measure and fit a carpet. Note that while fitting is a simple task which entails taking measurements, carpet fitting is very much labour intensive and has a much larger room for irreversible errors. Moreover, DIY fitting requires several specialist tools. As such please consider DIY carefully only if you have past successive experience.

How to measure a room:

Measuring Standard Shaped Rooms

If your room is rectangular or square, measuring it is straightforward; You will need to measure the length and width of the room at the widest point (including going into doorway areas) and multiply the two measurements to calculate the size of the floor surface.

Always add 10 centimetres to your total length and width measurements. This extra amount will allow for any deviations in the wall and the cutting when your carpet is fitted.

Be careful as many rooms are not perfect squares, so even allowing 10cm might not be enough. You might want to take two measurements for the length and two for the width. You can then use the largest measurement.

Measure Irregular Shaped Room

If your room is an odd shape or has a recess, chimney breast or any alcoves, you’ll need to bear this in mind when measuring it for carpet. How you measure an unusual shaped room will also depend on whether you want any joins in your carpet or not. Sketching out a plan for your room is an excellent way to start and to ensure you don’t miss any wall areas. Remember to measure into any doorways, window bays and recesses

To be on the safe side, you should measure every wall in the room, including the depth of any alcoves, which will come in handy if you need to join two or more carpet pieces together. By measuring every wall, you will have all the measurements you need.

Always add 10 centimetres to your total length and width measurements.

Measuring your hall

This is a bit more complicated, but if you sketch the shape and take every single measurement, all should go well. Measure the Hall and the Landing the same as you would a flat area, remembering to go into doorways and to mark clearly where the staircase goes. On the Landing, it is important to include the first riser in your measurements, as shown in the diagram

Measuring your stairs and landing

For the stairs you will need to check the dimensions of one or two stairs to ensure they are the same and then count the number of stairs you have. In our diagram we have 10 stairs, the very top riser being included in the Landing measurements. Each of our 10 stairs have a ‘tread’ and a ‘riser’ and we measure the width of the stair, and then the length of one tread and riser together. Sometimes at the base of your stairs you will have a stair that has a curved edge. This is called a ‘Bullnose’ and you will need to measure the tread and riser separately. Your staircase may also turn and have triangular shaped stairs known as ‘Winders’. These will need to be measured separately, noting their widest dimensions.

How to fit a carpet:

Make sure you store your carpet carefully before laying it. You'll need to keep it rolled rather than folded to avoid any problems when you want to lay it flat and stretch it. Carpet is very heavy and hard to move, so it's a good idea to have someone on hand to help you carry and position it. Carpet fitters use a stretcher (or knee kicker) to stretch hessian-backed carpet onto the gripper. This has a flat plate at one end with teeth that grip the carpet, and a padded cushion at the other that the fitter pushes (rather than kicks) with one knee.

What you’ll need

Gloves
Carpet grippers
Hammer

19mm nails
Carpet underlay
Carpet

Carpet tucker
Carpet stretcher
Stanley knife

Step 1

Start by laying your carpet loosely in position. Stand in the corner with one foot under the carpet, then smooth and push it into place using your other foot. Cut the carpet to size if you need to, leaving between 50 and 75mm extra at each edge.

Step 2

Cut a vertical line in the excess directly above the corners, then trim the overlapping triangles so you can lay the carpet flat to the gripper.

Step 3

Start fitting your carpet from the longest wall, and work back towards the doorway. Using a carpet tucker, firmly crease the carpet against the skirting to mark a fold line.

Step 4

Using a dolphin-handled knife with a new sharp blade, hold the carpet flat to the floor and cut along the carpet edge. You'll need to cut slightly higher than the carpet surface (about 5mm). Be careful not to mark the skirting-board when you do this

Step 5

Position the carpet stretcher, teeth downwards, about 25mm from the skirting. Then push firmly against the padded end with your knee to hook the carpet onto the gripper on either side of the corner. Push the excess carpet down between the skirting and the gripper with the carpet tucker. Repeat this all along the first wall. Then trim, stretch and fix the carpet along the two adjacent walls, and finally the opposite wall.

Step 6

For difficult shapes (such as around a door frame) make several vertical cuts down the edge, then trim the carpet flush with the knife.

Step 7

If you need to fit the carpet around a pipe, make a straight cut from the edge of the carpet to the centre of the pipe. Then press the carpet around the pipe, and trim it by running the knife round the base at a 45 degrees angle until the carpet lies flat.

Step 8

When fitting carpet across a doorway, you'll need to cut it in line with the edge of the flooring in the next room. Fit a suitable threshold bar in place and push the carpet edge beneath it with a bolster or screwdriver.

Hire an Expert

Most people exercise hiring an expert, to ensure not only peace of mind, but a high quality of standard job. Suffah Carpets does not offer such services at the moment, but we are able to discuss suggestions for contractors within your locality, during our consultation discussions.

* Note, that any comments or links here are not official endorsement. They are simply observations shared, which the reader takes onus for implementation of any said observations.