Hi,
We are carpeting our custom-built riser. We had a guy come in to take measurements and he said it's best to shop around for installation because it will cost extra to carpet the riser.

Here is the scenario. We carpeted our HT room last year, but did not have a riser. We built the riser over the carpet and need to carpet it. However, we are carpeting another room upstairs in the attic, so this would be a two-room job.

Our riser is pretty much like anyone else on the forums. It's 12" high, we have one thread (one-step) and put rope lighting around.

The riser build out of wood, with two layers of plywood on the top.

1. How much should installation be extra for the riser?
2. Is there anything else we have to tell the carpeting person when doing the job (i.e. don't cover the rope lights?)

Thanks!

Hi,
Is there anything else we have to tell the carpeting person when doing the job (i.e. don't cover the rope lights?)


Without knowing the exact details of the riser, that might be impossible. You might need to remove the rope lighting and reinstall after the carpet is tucked under the lip and stapled.

Got picture of under the lip?

Ok,
The rope light is pretty tightly sealed there. I first tried clips, but they kept breaking off so I used channels w/silicone to affix them. I was referencing other threads for the riser built, all of which showed the riser to pre-carpet stage.

I left 3" for the lip of the carpet.

Here is the lip:

http://home.earthlink.net/~gbozovic/lip.jpg

Here are some other photos of the riser.

http://home.earthlink.net/~gbozovic/riser2.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~gbozovic/riser3.jpg

I hope this helps.

Any advice is appreciated.

Many thanks!

First off you should take a router and round over those lip edges to make it easier to bend the carpet.

Looks like a good sized lip so the carpet guy has some room to work with. He should be able to easily get the staple gun every under the lip pretty easy except at the stair area. That will be a challenge but is doable.

As for expense I think you might expect a quote of about $200-400 extra for the riser and stairs on top of the typical quoted installed price per sq ft for the carpet.

When I carpeted my riser (much simpler design than yours) is simply had them cut me an extra length of carpet and pad and I did it myself.

Your riser is very similar to my construction. I got my carpet and pad at the local Lowes and my son and I did ours in about 45 minutes. We used a crown stapler. I did not route my deck edges. I don't think in my case it was necessary. It's twelve inches high and 6' by about 9'. I screwed my channel for my rope light with 1 inch drywall screws. I have taken the ropelight and the channel off a couple of times. I'm a bit concerned you siliconed the rope light into the channels. Incandecent rope can get hot. My LED rope fits snugly in the channel and stays put. If I need to change it, I can. Ignore the fact that my chairs are extended, I used this photo on another message.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/HeyNowWV/chair2.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/HeyNowWV/ht1.jpg





Good luck.

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the heads up. The $200 to $400 over the cost of the existing carpet seems way too much, I mean people get the stairs carpet all the time right? It's one thread, and ok, around the lip, but they have a lot of space to work on.

Thanks!

. The $200 to $400 over the cost of the existing carpet seems way too much

With travel time this is going to chew up the majority of a carpet layers day. Unless he has some small fill jobs nearby he is going to want a days pay for your job.

It's going to be supply and demand and depending on how hungry skilled carpet guys are in your area everything is negotiable.

Jeff,

Don't you think that since they will be on site anyway doing another room, they may be asking a bit much to carpet a small riser?

Everything is negotiable. But we've read about some pretty stiff rates in MA.

My riser is being carpeted as I type. They charged an extra $85 for the platform., which is the same amount they charge extra for a set of stairs. I live in NJ, which is not exactly cheap.

They will be carpeting a new room in the attic, it's not a huge room (8x12), but it's two separate carpets and two separate jobs. They measured it and said it may cost extra and it may be worth shopping around. We will see when they come for the install what they say.

I prefer the same guys to do both jobs because #1) Lowest the cost, 2) lowers the time, 3) only half or full day off work.

Thanks!

Home Depot's Expo center charged me $200 per riser (Curved). Unfortunately, I had two small curved stages at the screen stage and 2 for seat location. I felt pain paying $800 more. It was like 50% of my installation cost as extra cost.

I had my riser done the same time the room was done. I had the installers come and give me a qoute. I paid in full 4 weeks before they actually came to install the carpet. When the installer came he was a grouch he complained about the riser and even told me he did not think he had enough carpet to do it. I called the guy out that originally looked at it, he said they had enough carpet for the job. The guy did the job then about two weeks later they sent me out another bill for an additional 100 bucks because they said it was more work than they thought. I did not pay it. There was nothing mentioned in our talks of them going up on the price and I refused to pay an additional charge when I had paid in full 6 wks earlier.

I would have done the whole room at once with the riser. They tend to want to charge more if they have to do two rooms even though its just a riser.

Randy

I had my riser done after the room so it was a pretty small job. I think I paid $800 including carpet. I think the labor was around $400. Funny when the install was being done they were using pieces of the pad instead of one new piece. Amazing you pay the big bucks and you still get a crappy job.

I live in Southern California and shopped around for carpet to find the best deal. I found an outlet that sells remnants, and got a gorgous very high end carpet! The labor was inexpensive also- Just $50 for doing the riser and curved stage. I think if you shop around, and find a good installer who can do the job on the side it would be inexpensive. Also, if you can find a remnant (unless you have the carpet already) you will save about half. Really, though, I think I got lucky because no one's buying homes out here right now, and the carpet installers were previously employed by a design center, now out of work. Total for the room with riser, stage, carpet and pad was about $700 (13x22 room). Good luck!

If you have the carpet to match, try it yourself. It ain't rocket science. If you have ever watched a professional crew do it before, you can replicate their efforts pretty easily. All of the materials and tools can be bought or rented at a home center.