The Most Powerful Tools for DIY Carpeting
Here are the most powerful tools you can use to install carpets yourself.
24/06/2020
Carpeting is considered a favorite among house owners, and for good reasons. It’s cheap, warm in winter, gentle, quieter and easier to install than alternatives like hardwood flooring. Carpets can last for up to 15 years if well-maintained. They come in many colors too, making them ideal for living rooms and kids’ rooms. If you want to install carpets in your home, you can do it yourself and save some money. The timing, pricing and quality will be under your control. Here are the most powerful tools you can use to install carpets yourself.
Hanging Carpets
A carpet doesn’t only have to be on the floor, hanging oriental rugs on the wall has become trendy and aesthetically pleasing. There are different methods to hang the rug on the wall, like using velcro for heavier rugs or using casing on the rod, carpet rigs or tackless strips. For invisible wire or hangers, there are these great ideas of using slotted keyholes. They are made using a plunge router, which has many other uses, that cuts the keyholes into the wood.
Wall-to-Wall Carpeting Tools
Carpet Stretchers
Carpet stretchers are used to stretch the carpet and pull it to the wall. There are different types of carpet stretchers like power stretchers and knee kickers. The main difference between the power stretchers and knee kickers is that the power stretchers are longer and made for larger rooms while a knee kicker is small. A power stretcher extends from side to side of the room. It has a lever that creates pressure to pull the carpet tighter. The knee kicker is used for a small area like a closet or stairs. You will kick it with your knee and then its head grips the carpet and stretches it. If you use a knee kicker in a larger room, in a matter of months, you’ll find ripples in the carpet so a power stretcher is advised for bigger areas.
Tackless Strips
A tackless strip is a strip of wood covered in tacks that are nailed, screwed or glued to the subfloor with the tacks angled to face the walls. To use tackless strips, you must measure the perimeters of the room then cut the strips to appropriate length. The strips are nailed to plywood floors, or attached by masonry nails or bonded by construction adhesives in concrete floors. The carpet gets stretched beyond the tackless strips where the hooks secure the carpet’s backing and hold the carpet in place.
Carpet Utility Knife
When you buy a carpet pad for your wall to wall installation, you will probably buy excess padding, which you will need to cut and no tool is better than a utility knife to serve the purpose. You use it to trim the excess carpet padding at the edges of the wall.
Carpet Trimmer
You don’t like the finishing look of the carpet after getting cut by a utility knife? Well, you can use a carpet trimmer. You can set the blade sharpness according to the thickness of your carpet which you can measure. You also adjust the blade using the adjustment guide which is usually a knob or a screw near the long cutting guide, and set it to match your carpet’s depth. The blade will extend from the bottom of the trimmer with the same depth as the carpet.
After setting it up, you can use it to cut it by holding the handle and pressing it down the length of the wall, it will be cut in a straight line. You can then use the utility knife to cut the remaining excess inches of the uncut carpet.
Seam Iron
For this part, you can use either a specially made seam iron or a clothing iron, both would do the job. You basically use the utility knife to cut the two pieces you want to seam to fit one another. Then with the seam iron, you heat the iron and use the heat to make the two pieces stick together. You should press the two edges of the carpet pieces into the seam iron and up against one another.The tool does the job easily and quickly, just make sure to use the suitable temperature. An alternative to a seam iron is to use a clothing iron with an adhesive, where you use the heat to melt the glue and stick the two pieces together.
When you look around your home and feel like there needs to be a change, the first thing that comes to mind is, what can you do yourself without the help of a professional? If you’re a lover of DIY jobs, you will enjoy doing your own carpeting. It will save you money and time and there are many tools that can make the job look like it’s made by professionals.