Joining stair runner to fitted carpet

[Andy Kirkland]

Hi,

We are currently refurbishing a cottage and are getting close to completing upstairs and are at the stage of choosing carpets etc.

We want a fitted carpet upstairs - it is *just* possible to have a single piece of carpet for the entire upstairs - 3 rooms + landing (it's not a massive house!) so we would have a joinless carpet throughout. But, for the stairs we are considering a runner/stair rods. Question is, has anyone done this successfully and if so how do you do the join between the runner and the fitted landing carpet?

Does the landing carpet run over the "nose" of the top step and then the runner begins?

Does the runner continue up into the landing by a few inches with a threshold strip?

If anyone's done this would appreciate knowing how it's done and if they have any photos of the finished product.

Thanks,

Andy

[Lurch]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:28:10 +0000, Andy Kirkland mused:

If you get a decent carpet fitter then you can get them to join a carpet almost invisibly (carpet fitters I know of have joined carpets of a light colour and the join is invisible unless you really look closely\know where it is)

[Stuart Noble]

definitely a g-s-i job

[Andy]

Depends how you do the stair runner: you can make it out of the same carpet as that in your upstairs rooms and landing ( if a suitable hardwearing material ), and simply do each tread/riser with a separate strip of carpet ( whipped at the edges - you can get that done for a few pounds/yard )). Each piece of carpet is tucked into a pair of gripper rods at the intersection of the riser/tread. The join is invisible. You can do several steps at a time with sufficiently long pieces of carpet, it is not necessary to have a separate bit of carpet for each tread/riser. It depends on how it is cut out of the roll, and what is the most economic way of doing it.

Be aware that the nap of the carpet should run downstairs as it were: the best way to tell this is to run your hand along the carpet and feel which way the resistance is most. The nap always runs into/out of the carpet roll, never side to side. Make sure your carpet upstairs is aligned so that the nap lays correctly where the landing meets the first step. Drop the upstairs carpet down the first riser and tuck it into the pair of gripper rods at the bottom, then carry on with your riser carpet, be it single piece or in sections.

Andy.