Category Archives: Carpet

Getting Rid Of Your Carpets? Here’s How

carpet being rolled up

If you’ve just purchased a home or you’re thinking about redecorating your home, there’s a good chance you’re thinking of beautiful hardwood floors. Whether it’s the aged elegance of reclaimed wood or new bamboo, parquet or any other kind of hardwood, the first step is getting rid of your existing flooring – and all too often, that means tearing out carpeting. It’s a big job, but it’s not nearly as hard as you might think. Even if you’re not up for the challenge of laying down new floors yourself, this is definitely a DIY project.

Don’t Try To Take It Out In One Piece

Your carpet may have arrived in one piece, but there’s no reason at all that it has to leave the same way. You’ll have a much easier time dealing with it if you cut it into smaller, more manageable pieces. A box cutter works wonders here – don’t use scissors, this is actually a lot harder than using a knife. Strips of 2’ by 8’ are pretty easy to handle. Start from the edge and work your way through the room. Not only are these smaller pieces a lot easier to work with, you’ll also have a much easier time getting them into a trash can or dumpster.

Get Rid Of The Padding

Taking out the padding is equally easy. Just repeat the same process you used to take out the carpet, cutting the padding into manageable pieces and taking them out.

Tack Strips

This part can be a challenge, at least until you get the hang of it. However, with the right tools, this can be a very quick and easy job. If you’re planning to lay down a new floor, then there’s an especially easy method: push a chisel (or the end of a pry bar) under the tack strip and push to remove it. This can scratch up your floors, so you may want to skip this method if you’re not installing new flooring afterwards. The slightly less easy method involves a flat head screwdriver and a hammer. Slip the head of the screwdriver under the tack strip and give the handle a gentle tap with the hammer to force the tack strip up. After you have all of the strips out, use the hammer to pry up any remaining nails.

Now, it’s just a matter of cleaning up and preparing your floor for the next step. If your goal was just to expose your existing hardwood floors, then there is no next step. It really can be that easy to give your décor an upgrade and even increase the value of your home!

Installing Carpet Tile

carpet tiles sample

In the past we discussed using carpet tile in your home. Here is the follow-up on installing it yourself.

Installing carpet tiles is a much easier do-it-yourself job than stretch-in installation, as long as you follow the correct procedure. This type of carpet is installed piece by piece, so finding the starting point is perhaps the most difficult part. Once you get started, this job will go by very quickly and you will have your new carpet ready to use in no time at all.

Find the Center of the Room

Use a chalk-box to snap a line at the midpoint of the opposing walls in the room. You will begin the installation at the center of the room and then work towards the outside. Once you find the midpoint between both sets of walls, the lines will intersect in the center of the room.

Square Your Lines

Before you begin the installation, make sure that the lines are squared. Measure four feet out from the center point on one line and three feet out on the other line. The two marks should be five feet apart for your lines to be squared. If they are not, make the necessary adjustments.

Equal the Edges

Make sure that the tile closest to the wall will be at least half a tile wide. Do this by laying out tiles towards the wall and then stopping when you cannot fit an entire tile between the last tile and the wall. You can then adjust the tiles so that you have room for half a tile on each side. This ensures that both sides are even.

Start Laying Tiles

Begin by laying the center tiles. Put one tile in each quadrant of the center of the room. You will then build out from the square that you have formed. Once the first square has been completed, you can move onto the second and third squares. Continue forming squares until you get close to the wall.

Trim the Tiles to Fit

The tiles that border the walls will have to be trimmed, unless your room is perfectly shaped for these tiles. Measure the area between the last tile and the wall and draw a matching line on the back of the tile. Continue this process until every space has been filled.

Roll Your Floor

Use a 75-pound roller to press the adhesive down and keep the tiles in place permanently.

A Short Guide to Carpet

carpeted room with red couch

If you’re in the market to purchase carpet for your home or business, you will find you have many choices. Which carpet should you choose? Below is a brief explanation of the choices in flooring.

Carpet comes in many different types. Aside from the fact that carpet comes in set sizes or “room sized” rugs, carpet tiles, and carpet sized to fit the room exactly. When carpet rolls become low, the store may sell remnants. These remnants may be large enough to fill a room wall to wall. Remnants can also be bound on the edge and converted to a small rug.

The types of carpeting are: Residential, Commercial, Hospitality, Hotel and Motel, Public Spaces, Indoor / Outdoor or Grass, Berber, Church Sanctuary, Builders, Glow in the Dark, Woven Wilton, Spike Proof, Man Cave, and Boat. Carpet supplies include padding, carpet tape, carpet tacks. These are all in place to work with the carpet and to help keep the carpet in place.

The Installation is Just as Important as the Carpet

Putting in new carpet is a good way to make your home more beautiful. Create an interior design that has your personal style. Contemporary carpet choices are very strong, affordable, easy to clean, and comfy.

How your carpet is installed is equally important as how it looks and feels. It’s not hard to find carpet installation companies that offer cheaper prices for basic services.

Most people are easily suckered in by these types of low quality carpet installation companies. But there are a few things that you should be aware of when choosing a reputable and experienced carpet installation company.

Choosing a Big Box Retailer?

A large amount of big box retailers will install all of the carpet in your home for a hundred dollars or less. They call this a basic installation, but understand that there is a catch. The word “basic” means that you will get the least amount of service available. Understand that this type of installation won’t fair well because it is done with the cheapest materials available. Also, many of the things that you would normally expect might not be included in a basic installation. For instance, don’t expect to get carpet on the stairs or on split level steps.

Try to stay away from big box retailers. Or, maybe you might want to buy the carpet from them, but use your own professional carpet installers. Understand that your carpet installation might not be as affordable, but at least you know that it will be done correctly. The carpet will last longer, and you won’t have to pay money to repair a subpar installation.

Does Your Chosen Installer Have a License and Insurance?

Make sure that your chosen installer has a license and insurance. This means that he is professional, and that you have liability protection if anything goes wrong with the installation.

Get References

It does not matter what type of reputation a company has. You should always do your own research first. Try to get two or three references. This will tell you if the company does quality work and what to expect. If a carpet installation company cannot provide references, then move on to another company.

Get a Comprehensive Warranty for all Installation Work

The quality of the installation determines how well your carpet looks and how long it lasts. Keep in mind that some manufacturers may not honour the carpet’s warranty if it is installed improperly. It could be patchy in spots and misaligned in the corners. It could also come apart in specific areas.

Make sure that the installation has a warranty. This will provide protection if the installation is done incorrectly. It will also tell you if the installation company stands by its workmanship.

When it is done correctly, a new carpet installation can really make your home look better. The carpet will enhance your home’s decor, but realize that the installation is just as important as how it looks. Unfortunately, if the price sounds too perfect, then move on to the next carpet installation company. When you find the right company, make sure that it is licensed, bonded, provides warranties and has plenty of solid references.

A Case for Carpet Tile

With so much to choose from in carpet tiles, there’s absolutely no reason that you can’t redo your entire home’s carpeting using tiles and have it look exactly as you’ve always wanted. In fact, they’re becoming increasingly commonly used by interior designers for exactly this reason.

Why use carpet tiles

Best Carpet Value gave us some great reasons to use carpet tile.

Conventional wall to wall carpeting can get rather expensive, especially if you’d like to have more than one room done. However, carpet tiles are a good fit for virtually any budget: they’re often as little as a fourth of the price of standard carpeting. Carpet tiles allow you to beautify your home at a low cost without looking cheap.

Essentially, you can carpet your entire home for the cost of having wall to wall carpet put in just one or two rooms – it’s just one more reason that you’ll find more and more homeowners reading carpet tile reviews to learn more about this affordable, flexible and attractive flooring option.

One thing you’ll read about a lot in carpet tile reviews is that these are remarkably durable compared to traditional carpeting. They’re built to stand up to a lot of wear and tear – and if there’s a stain, you can simply replace the area at a very low cost rather than replacing the carpeting in the entire room.

Flooring is an important decision. Before you make your choice, it’s a good idea to read some customer reviews of carpet tiles on the websites of manufacturers and retailers to find out what other people think as well as learning more about what kind of options are out there for your home.