DIY carpet-cutting and fitting?

I think the seam tape uses heat to join the pieces together. That's certainly what the fitters used when they had to accommodate our very oddly shaped new room.

Matt

Haven't done it myself but I remember a friend doing it. He made a carpet kicker with wood and had nails poking through to form the gripper part. As far as I know it was a success.

mark

I tried to make a carpet kicker with nails and it just didn't work at all. You can buy them for about =A330 on ebay or screwfix.

John

It might work but joining carpet in a way such that it doesn't show and/or fray and/or pull apart along the join is not as simple as just sticking a bit of tape on the back.

You won't be able to stretch the carpet onto the gripper strips properly without one. If the carpet isn't suffciently stretched it'll runckle up under traffic.

The hardest part I found when fitting a carpet was the cutting the edges at the right place after stretching to the gripper. A couple of mm too much and the carpet won't tuck into the gripper/skirting gap neatly, too little and you have a gap. B-(

You dont use a kicker for most domestic fitting, nor stretch the carpet any more than the gripperrod does. Especially not with used carpet.

Re the tape, I wouldnt spoil the ship over a penny's worth of tar.

NT

I thought that might be the case with used carpet. It's been subjected to a lot of heat and I guess most of its elasticity has departed, so it could be almost impossible to stretch.

Er, "tar"? Special tape with tar on it? The duct-tape stuff isn't good enough?

Eddy.

Good idea, but it could take me a good couple of hours to make such a thing well enough so that it won't tear and wreck the carpet! And then, since the carpet has been subjected to so much heat, it might not want to stretch!

Eddy.

I suppose I'll have to see if they're available from one of those tool-hire places then.

You're fussier than me, I think. My terror will be cutting down the two long lines where the carpet must then form a near-undetectable seam!

Eddy.

Thanks for an idea of the price, John. I'm beginning to think I might hunt around for someone who'll do the whole job for not-too-much-more than £50!

Eddy.

And that's what they refer to in that link I included in my original posting. I guess I'll ask some local carpet-fitter what they would do. No use paying them, if on the day I find them down on their hands and knees with nothing better than duct tape!

Eddy.

Depends on the carpet. A board with nails can work on good woven-backed carpets, but it's no bloody use at all on cheap carpet. You need a lot of tiny pins instead. Just hire one for the day, they're cheap.

IMHO, I'd lay carpet again but I won't do vinyl. That's a real PITA.

Carpet fitters aren't expensive, and the difference between their work and d-i-y is usually clear for all to see.

"Don't spoil the ship over a hap'orth [half-penny worth] of tar" is a saying suggesting that saving a small amount on the price of some cheap item [the tar used to seal the joints against water entry] may be a false economy [when it causes the ship to sink].

In other words: buy the proper tape (or get a professional to do it).

Getting deeply OT...

"Originally referring to the use of tar to protect sore places or wounds on sheep from the destructive attacks of flies. (Sheep is dialectally pronounced ship over a great part of England.)"

Is it a sheep or a ship? (I used to think it was the vessel but have lately seen the animal version mentioned several times. Can't honestly make up my mind.)

yes, why do it the straightforward way.

The gripper rod pulls the wrinkles out, as long as youve walked it flat first. If you think it needs to be more stretched than it was first time round... why?

NT