Don't be afraid to pull up carpeting during a remodel or
cabinet construction. Fitting, trimming and restretching it isn’t difficult.
With a few special rented tools and the coaching in this article, you can do a
great job even if it’s your first try.
The techniques we show also work to get
rid of wrinkles. But don’t go into it thinking you’ll save a boatload of money;
an installer will typically charge $120, plus or minus, to do the job for you.
After you subtract the 50 bucks or so for tool rentals, the savings certainly
aren’t huge. The big advantage is that you can get the room back in order on
your schedule rather than idling on
a carpet layer’s backlogged customer list (or taking off work to keep the
appointment).
You may be tempted to
build your new bookcase or other project on top of the carpet. Resist the urge!
It’ll just make your construction work and future carpet replacement harder,
not to mention the risk of damaging the carpet while you’re
working.
While the techniques we
show are similar to the ones used for installing new carpeting, we don’t
recommend installing large tracts of new carpeting. Seaming, layout and carpet
hauling are best left to the pros. And compared with the price of new pad and
carpet, pro installation fees are relatively cheap.
If you only need to
remove wrinkles, skip all of the business on taking up and re-laying the carpet
and just use the techniques we show in
Photos 8 and 9
and the stretching sequences we show in
Steps 1–4.
Rent Three Key Tools
The most important tool to
rent is a “power” stretcher ($35 per half day;
Photo 8). It
does the lion’s share of the stretching. If you have tight areas where the
power stretcher won’t fit (spaces less than 3 ft. from adjoining walls), you’ll
also need to rent a “knee kicker.” If a carpet cutter is available, rent it,
too ($5 per half day;
Photo 10).
It’ll cut off carpet edges more cleanly and accurately than a utility knife. In
addition to these tools, you’ll need a pry bar to remove the tack strip
(Photo 3), a
stapler with 5/16-in. staples to reinstall the pad, and a tin snips or a chisel
to cut the new tack strips to length (Photo 4).
TIP
Before you run to the rental store to pick up your
carpet stretching tools, have the tack strips installed and the pad stapled
down. Chances are you’ll only need the tools for a few hours, so you want to be
ready to use them right away to save on rental
fees.
Pull Back the Carpet and Pad
Lift one corner of the
carpet with a pair of pliers and gently tease it free of the tack strip
(Photo 1). But
be careful; it’s easy to unravel the fibers. Then you’ll be able to grab hold
of the carpet and pull it away from all the tack strips like a zipper. Also be
careful not to pull the carpet past doorways where you might break a seam.
You’ll have to hire a pro to come and fix it.
Before you pull back the
pad, pull out all of the staples with a screwdriver and a pliers (Photo 2). Don’t
pull the pad through the staples, or it will rip.
If you have any pesky
floor squeaks, this is the perfect time to take care of them. Walk around the
room with a keen ear and mark the squeaks on the floor. Fix them by screwing
the subfloor to underlying floor joists with 2-1/2 in. screws. Now go ahead and
install that new bookcase and we’ll show you how to reinstall the
carpet.
Remove and Replace Tack Strips
Tack strips have
prestarted setting nails that secure them to the floor and needle-sharp nails
driven at slight angles that grip the carpet after it’s stretched (Photo 3).Wear
gloves when handling them or I guarantee you’ll have blood on your hands! If
you have a wooden floor, pull up and discard as many 4-ft. tack strip sections
as needed to clear the base of your project. It’s easiest to pry them up by
pounding a pry bar under the setting nails (Photo 3).
If you have tack strips in
a concrete floor, carefully lay out your project’s footprint on the floor and
chisel through the tack strips just outside the layout marks. Then pry out the
wood through the concrete nails (they won’t pull out) and break off the nails
by hitting them sideways with a hammer. Breaking off the concrete nails will
probably leave craters in the concrete, which makes it hard to drive in new
ones.
Make sure to point the
carpet-gripping nail tips toward the wall when you install them (Photo 5) or
they won’t hold the carpet in place during stretching. Position them half the
thickness of the carpet away from the wall (e.g., 3/4-in. thick carpet, 3/8 in.
away from wall). Installing them is simply a matter of driving the prestarted
setting nails into the floor with a hammer. Don’t leave any gaps at corners or
between lengths.
Tack strips always come in
4-ft. lengths and are available with concrete nails for slabs or standard nails
for wooden floors, so be sure to get the right kind. Cut the strips to length
with a tin snips (Photo
4). If you can’t get at the setting nails because of an overlying
toe-kick or an overhang, pull them out and set the tack strip in a bed of
construction adhesive. But wait overnight for the glue to set before stretching
the carpet. Or use a cold chisel or flat bar as we show in
Photo
5.
Rough-Cut Around Obstacles
When you’re ready to
reinstall the carpet, trim the pad so it rests right next to the tack strips
and staple it every 3 in. or so along the seams and the tack strip (Photo 6). Then
roll the carpet against the new built-in and make diagonal cuts away from the
corner (Photo 7). Then
cut off all but 3 in. of the excess with a utility knife. Work from the
underside to make cutting easier. You’ll cut off the 3-in. overlap after
stretching, as we show in
Photo
10.
