My wife is complaining that our 12 year old carpet int he house needs ot be replaced. I am a do it yourselfer and wondered how hard this would be to do myself working one room at a time?
- posted
14 years ago
Laying carpet
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- posted
14 years ago
It's not that hard. I was fitting carpets professionally when I was in High School ;-)
Installing aluminum carpet trim in doorways is quite easy. However, seaming carpet well does require some skill and practice. If your job needs a lot of seaming, I'd get some of it done professionally, watch, and then decide if it's something you want to tackle yourself.
Stairs also can be tricky depending on the geometry.
You will need to buy or rent a carpet kicker. A utility knife with plenty of new blades is essential and a good pair of carpet shears will be helpful but you can complete most jobs without.
Having said all that, most retail outlets offer installation at very attractive prices at the present time so I don't think you're likely to save a whole ton of money doing it yourself.
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14 years ago
Not hard at all. You will need a carpet stretcher and kicker, and the knives and electric irons needed to make splices. Don't cheap out. Change the padding, as that's where all the smell is. Once you remove the carpet, leave it open as long as you can stand it so it has a chance to off gas whatever's under there. It's not rocket surgery, but there are many tricks you need to know. And if you make any glaring mistakes, they will be highly visible. I suggest going with professional installation. It's not that much more, and it is easy to screw up as a newbie.
Steve
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14 years ago
For what the installers charge I'd just hire them...it will be all done while you are still thinking about it.
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14 years ago
Knees...........you gotta have good strong knees. Also a strong back for staying bent over all day. :-)
Seaming today is easy with very little practice using the iron and tape. In the old days they had to hand sew it using thread coated with beeswax. That sucked!
I agree with the other poster. A good professional can come in and have it done in a day or less and it won't cost that much more by the time you rent a few tools. There are some tricks that make it go faster and look better. If you have a big room and need a power stretcher, you need to be real careful you don't move a wall with the power stretcher.
Hank
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14 years ago
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14 years ago
yea, Lowes has installation for 149 bucks but when you read the fine print it has to be done the same day. How do you remove the entire furnature in your house so they can put in carpet?
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14 years ago
yea, Lowes has installation for 149 bucks but when you read the fine print it has to be done the same day. How do you remove the entire furnature in your house so they can put in carpet?
+++++++++Never contract through Lowes or Home Depot anyway. It just takes money out of the contractors' pocket and they resent it.
Jim
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14 years ago
yea, Lowes has installation for 149 bucks but when you read the fine print it has to be done the same day. How do you remove the entire furnature in your house so they can put in carpet?
The installers will R & R everything for a fee, usually on a per-item basis.
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14 years ago
They will move it to another room while they lay it, then move it back. One room at a time.
I haven't read the fine print, but I assume they would charge more for moving furniture.
Hank
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- posted
14 years ago
They will move it to another room while they lay it, then move it back. One room at a time.
"I haven't read the fine print, but I assume they would charge more for moving furniture." NOW YOU THINKING and THEY ARE NOT STUPID
Hank
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14 years ago
Totally agree. It's not worth messing with.
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14 years ago
: "I haven't read the fine print, but I assume they would charge more for : moving furniture." NOW YOU THINKING and THEY ARE NOT STUPID
People hired by Lowe's aren't stupid? LOL
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14 years ago
When I needed some minor carpet and vinyl work done, I hired a guy out of the phone book. Turns out he was moonlighting on himself- day shift he did subcontract installs for the Borg, and did side jobs after 5 PM. When he came by for the estimate, I made sure to say I would be paying cash. Good price and good work. I probably wouldn't hire that way for plumbing or electrical, but for flooring, worst case scenario is I would have to have it done over. Worth the gamble for me, to save a C-note or so. If I feel rich enough to redo the worn-out kitchen floor this year, I'll definitely call him first.
-- aem sends....
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14 years ago
Dunno about carpeting, but you might consider laminate.
A quick check shows low-budget carpeting from 79¢/sq ft (plus pad and tack strips). Laminate flooring is available for as little as 49¢/sq ft.
The 49¢ stuff is more than adequate for a low-traffic area, such as a bedroom. For busy floors, you might have to jump up to the better grade at
79¢ sq ft. (plus vapor barrier if needed).Laminate can be installed with regular wood-working tools, plus a funny-looking piece of metal that resembling a big "Z" with short arms used for knocking sense into recalcitrant pieces.
If you don't have one, a cheap table saw (~$100) will simplify the eventual cutting and ripping (although a standard circular saw will work almost as well), and a one-pound rubber hammer (about $2.00 at HF) will prove useful.
Tell the wife that laminate is easier to keep clean, doesn't harbor fleas, dust mites, and other vermin, and doesn't spot or soak up smelly stuff.
I've done three rooms with laminate (plus used some leftovers as a kitchen countertop - it resembles butcher-block!). Works swell and you can do a room in a weekend. Hint: Remove the baseboards first. Take them outside, fill the dents, and repaint.
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14 years ago
But it is UGLY! And it feels like you are walking around on a countertop. (IMHO, of course.) I'm no fan of W/W carpet, but I hate it less than laminate. In OP's place, my first step would be to figure out what is under the carpet. If house was built before mid-1970s, decent chance there is hardwood down there. If so, getting that cleaned up and refinished would be the way to go. If house is same age as carpet, 12 years, probably chipboard underlayment above plywood subfloor, and I would at least price out replacing the underlayment with hardwood. A few rugs you can throw in a large laundromat washer are one thing, but for allergy people like me, W/W is a PITA. Only laminate I would ever consider is the kind with a layer of real wood on top, and last time I priced that, there was no big advantage over prefinished real hardwood on material costs. Labor is higher for real wood, obviously, but I am old fashioned enough to think it is a better floor.
-- aem sends, temporarily on Google while traveling....
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14 years ago
I don't trust 3rd party installation services like that. If the installers where good at what they do, they wouldn't need to pay Lowes a cut out of their profit or work their ass off for $149. Not to say all of them are crap, there could be a new business that needs work, but IMO it just gives them a bad name.
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14 years ago
I don't think so. I've never been accused of being a dement.
I do have a nice collection of squirrel heads.
And, to be appease the retentive types, one should soak laminate only when wearing eye and ear protection.
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14 years ago
Well, OF COURSE, it's ugly! That's why you cover it with throw-rugs. But it's no uglier than purple shag or an off-white carpet with a giant coffee (I hope it was coffee) stain.
Your point about the price of laminate-like real wood is well taken. However, there is a huge difference. The click-together stuff comes pre-finished and with a layer of Lexan on top. No matter how much varnish you apply to a traditional wood floor, you can't make it bullet-proof!
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14 years ago
(snip)
ide quoted text -
I've always been happy with the durability of the Bruce pre-finished plank flooring. Wears like iron, except maybe where area rugs or carpets turn the grit that comes off of shoes into sandpaper, once it filters down to the wood level. Never understood the people who want finished-in-place hardwood- never looked as good as a factory finish to me. The laminate stuff is way too shiny, even the 'satin' finish, and just looks and feels wrong to me. Yeah, you gotta sweep them once in awhile, and keep plants/pets/humans from piddling on them, but there are 100+ YO hardwood floors out there that still look great. And if the finish does get trashed, you CAN refinish real hardwood. Laminate, even the wood-top kind, lotsa luck.
-- aem sends, still on Google for another week or so....