Laying Carpet

[pakdog]

Where is the best place to set a tack strip when carpet runs through a doorway? We have carpeted a bedroom that meets ceramic tile in an adjoining bathroom. The rooms are separated by a sliding door and there will be a transition piece of wood (oak) screwed down where the carpet and tile meet. Is it correct to assume that the tack strip should be covered by the transition piece or is it acceptable for the strip to be in a place where it can be stepped on?

Kevin

[john]

Assuming you have a carpet with a separate underlay, normally you would tack the strip leaving a gap of about 5mm from the transition piece. the underlay would be cut to the strip and the carpet would be stretched over the strip and cut so that it tucks down into the 5mm gap. If you have a combined underlay, the carpet would meet the transition piece.

[pakdog]

Thank you. That's very helpful. I should have said that the carpet has a separate underlay, a heavy duty felt-like pad.

Another question: There is already a tack strip just outside the doorway on the bedroom side. The carpet installer left an additional piece of strip for my use depending on where I lay the transition piece (really depends on how large a transition I decide to make). If I decide on a transition that is 1.5" to 2" wide, following your advice, I would end up with two parallel tack strips, one just outside of the door and one in the middle of the doorway. Would this create a problem?

Kevin

[George E. Cawthon]

I'm not a carpet layer but I know how mine were laid and I have continued that method when I removed carpet and added hard floors.

You can have tile-wood strip-carpet with each butting up to the next but it is far better to just have tile-carpet. You don't need a transition. But if you use a transition, you need the type that is a T (goes over the tile a bit and goes over the carpet a bit but the center is directly on the subfloor).

You can put the tack strip about 3/16" from the tile, stretch the carpet onto the tack strip and then carefully cut the carpet even with the tile.

Better, is to simply roll the carpet under about

1" (no pad in this 1" which should make the carpet about the same height as the tile). This 1" roll over should butt against the tile and stapled to the subfloor, no tack strip. You need to use at least 1" long (and 1-1/2" would be better) crown staples (the kind used in pneumatic guns) and staple about 1/4-3/8" behind the fold so that the staple goes through the top and the folded over piece. With any decent carpet you will never see the staples.

[pakdog]

I like the sound of your method. Unfortunately, the carpet has already been cut flush with the tile leaving nothing to roll under, so what's to keep the edge from fraying over time?

Why do you recommend the T type of transition if I go that way?

Thanks,

Kevin

[mm]

I have the same carpet throughout the house, certainly not the most expensive carpet, but the only place I have a problem is when I go upstairs. If I'm barefoot, and I get my foot too close to the riser, I step on the tacks from the tack strip. Never punctured anything, but it hurts a little.

I took a hammer and pounded them down, but I may not have wacked them all hard enough. It's still a problem, but I've learned not to put my toes where they don't belong.

[pakdog]

Definitely what I want to avoid as well as possibly wearing down the carpet in that spot.

Thanks,

K

[George E. Cawthon]

That's why you roll it under.

Not sure what you mean. The T type transition means the transition overlaps the tile and overlaps the rug. Thus it protects the edges of the tile and the edges of the rug. But that means a bump in the floor that you either step on or step over. The alternative for you is to just use a transition that butts up to the tile (guess you could use a good caulk to make it seamless, then roll the carpet under to butt against the transition. Kind of depends on where the tile stops in the doorway and how your door is guided.

[mm]

FRankly, I think the carpet must be pretty cheap. I was going to say I've never had this problem on any other stairs, but I realize the last other stairs I went barefoot on was my home when I was 10. And my father had more money than I do. (I didn't put in the carpet. The prior owner did.)

But there are other tack strips in the house, I'm would think. Or are there: The entrance to the 3 upstairs bedrooms, the two upstairs bathrooms, where the dining room meets the kitchen, and where it meets the hall. But, how could there be trim strips since I can't feel anything different at those places, even barefoot.

One can't wear down the carpet right next to a stair riser. Most peoplle don't stick their feet in that far, I think, and the weight is on the other foot before it goes from the ball to the toes.

I was worried about where my desk is. I tried for 23 years to move the desk chair as little as possible, because I didn't want to wear out one room and debate how much of the house to recarpet.

This year it was in a tiny place starting to show its age. I decided to look for one of the masonite or plastic things that go under desk chairs. After a few weeks I rmemebered to look when I was in Staples. They had several models, so I was going to think about it. The very next day I found a plastic one in good condition in the dumpster on the next property near my house.

It seems as good as new, but I'm not sure. I can no longer see the worn spot (It's like where someone parts his hair you can see his scalp, but if his hair is messed up, you can't) But I can still see the color of the carpet underneath.

The only problem is that it is hard to start rolling my chair. The plastic mat has little legs, maybe a quarter inch high that are supposed to go into the nap of the carpet. The weight of the chair I think makes the chair sink down between the mat legs, so it has to go uphill a quarter inch to get started rolling. And it sort of goes bumpeta bumpeta when it rolls. But I don't know if a new one would be any better. Or if I should cut all the mat legs shorter. Or something.

[pakdog]

As opposed to any other type of transition piece. I'm familiar with the T type but was asking if you could say why it's preferable in this application to other types.

Kevin