laying a carpet yourself

[mary]

is it worth doing this? Or are the savings not worth bothering with? Do carpet shops give you a decent discount if you lay it yourself?

[meow2222]

=A335 per room for a 1 hour job, your call. More on both counts if you use underlay.

[geoff]

In message , mary writes

It depends on how useful you are

and where the carpet is

A square room isn't too difficult, but hall and stairs are best left to someone who can, if you haven't done it before

[jsabine]

No

No

In all fairness, my experience is limited. I helped my ex's sister's husband 'lay' a carpet in their kid's room many moons ago - and it got cocked up royally.

A week ago, we decided that our kitchen floor really needed something doing with it, so bought a vinyl off-cut that the local shop told us would be forty quid to fit. Foolishly, we declined.

The result is acceptable if you have low standards. It is likely to bring forward the kitchen re-modelling project.

In short, carpet-laying is one of the few things that (like plastering) are cheap enough and difficult enough that it's not worth bothering to DIY.

[Jonah]

I fitted a couple of carpets. One in a bedroom and one in a bathroom. Both took me hours to fit and were a real pain in the ass.

For the sake of £30 - £40 I would get professionals to fit it. It will probably take them less than an hour and they will likely make a better job of it that if you did it yourself (no offence intended).

This is one of the only things I would deffo pay someone to come in and do for me. Most everything else I will have a go at myself.

HTH.

[John]

I agree, also if you make a tors of it you have to buy a new carpet, if the fitter makes a mistake he buys a new one!

HTH

John

[Toby Sleigh]

Not like plastering. The material cost in plastering is a few tens per room, the labour cost a few hundred. Carpeting the material cost is a few hundreds per room, labour cost a few tens. So definately worth getting a pro to lay carpet.

[meow2222]

I've fitted and I've paid, and I'd fit myself now, unless too busy elsewhere. Its an easyish simplish job. But... if you've not done one before there is the risk of a cockup. If you tell us a bit more about the details, such as what fixing system you intend to use, whether there's underlay in use etc, we may be able to give more feedback on what to do or not do etc.

NT

[John Rumm]

Plastering is very well worth learning to DIY IMHO ;-)

Carpet fitting (with the exception of stairs) is not that difficult to do well enough if you watch the pros carefully a few times. The keys seem to be having a stair tool (i.e. the smooth blunt bolster chisel type of affair), and a big pile of spare blades. Machine mart do a cheap carpet knee kick stretcher as well if you need it.

My approach to carpet laying is:

Stick gripper round the edges leaving a 1/2" gap from the skirting. Lay the underlay inside the gripper and staple it enough that it won't move about. take care positioning the carpet to get the pattern straight etc. Go round cutting roughly to size but leaving a good couple of inches spare at all the edges. Finally trim it reasonably straight but a little oversize. You don't actually need to be that accurate here. Use a sharp blade - change it every time it looses its edge. That may mean ever couple of yards of cut on some carpets. Blades are cheap if you buy boxes of 100. The use the stair tool to tuck the cut edge down behind the gripper - this loses the cut edge and also takes car of any inaccuracies in cutting.

[BodgeIt]

Unless you are skilled in chipping and scratching your freshly painted skirtings I suggest you call in a professional...

[mary]

thanks for all the answers.It looks like a professional is your only man....

[Bob Mannix]

Late to discussion:

Bedroom - DIY no problem Stairs, landing - professional Living room - probably professional Vinyl - completely unforgiving, definitely professional *unless* you remove everything, including skirting, and refit on top afterwards. Buy grippers and underlay on line or direct from fitter

[Paul Matthews]

Buying a new carpet I'd let them do it. I have done a couple of bits, but that was reusing older carpets. It was not tremendously difficult, but it was a small straight room.