I have seen many posts about people putting carpet on their walls. Maybe this will help someone. My family was in the carpet business for years. Just a couple tips for those doing walls etc. Unless you have the knowledge and the tools...I would hire someome to do the floors. Walls and steps on the other hand just take a little care...
1. Bring the carpet into the room at least a few hours before installation and unroll if possible. Best to bring it in the night before. Heat affects how the carpet behaves. The warmer the room is the better. This will allow the carpet to RELAX, and will be alot easier to deal with. When the backing is cold it is alot more abrasive also, making for more scratches on painted trim etc..Once the carpet is installed, hung etc..Temperature plays less of a factor. If you put cold carpet on walls or floors....when it gets warm it WILL bulge, sag and stretch.
2. Buy a knife specifically for carpet. Sheetrock/utility knives will work....but carpet knives are much, much better. Buy lots of blades and change them alot...use both sides...(spin the blade around).
3. When cutting, make sure you hold the knife very straight. If you don't, you will shave pile off one side of the cut and it will not look good
On the other hand....if you aren't going to be using the "other side" of a cut peice...angle the knife slightly to give your good side more nap. If hiding a seam...it is an old trick to angle both sides of the seam out (away from the cut you are making) with the knife to give the seam lots of nap. Be sure to recut the remainder of the carpet straight if you are going to use it elsewhere.
4. Make any rough cuts using a chalk-line....preferably with WHITE chalk. Blue and red can stain certain types of carpet....mainly real wool and wool berbers... cut your pieces into the approximate size. After, use a metal straight edge....to make your straight finish cuts (when seaming or a straight edge against trim etc.
5. When stapling or nailing with brads.. spread the nap of the carpet with your fingers and staple where you see the backing. Tap all staples with a hammer....to make sure they are seated and also to further hide them. After stapling , (if you dont have a carpet tractor), use something (maybe a putty knife) to "fluff" the nap around the staple...not so hard as to remove nap...just enough to hide the staple. Use staples with the smallest head available or use carpet brads.
6. This is one of the most important. It is only when dealing with multiple peices. Carpet (fabric also) always has atleast one, direction. This is MOST important with pile carpet as opposed to berber...but berber almost always has some type of pattern to follow. To determine which way a carpet is running: run your hand back and forth across a piece of carpet. You will notice when you go one way...that the carpet lays down that way..and stands up when you go the other(you can also notice it when you vacuum...its what makes those patterns in the carpet.) Make sure all peices you cut, that the nap falls the same way....to add to the confusion of this...some carpet has two directions..Meaning, if you rub side to side...one will stand and one way will fall...and if you run your hand up and down...it will have one way that stands and one that falls. Make sure everything is running the same. Another trick is to lay out your carpet and after while cutting your peices...draw arrows on the backing of the carpet with a marker. If you don't pay attention to nap you will notice BIG color changes in some carpet. Following direction sometimes means buying more carpet than planned. I recommend it. I have been in plenty of homes...that will have a stair tread or landing turned..to save carpet and it looks aweful. This tip also applies to apolstering with velvet or any cloth with a nap. I can't stress it enough...MAKE SURE ITS ALL GOING THE SAME WAY!!!
7. You get what you pay for usually...but when selecting carpet price isnt always the biggest factor. If doing any kind of apolstering with carpet...ie....covering a hushbox, a step etc... take a peice of the carpet you are considering buying and fold a corner over HARD, so the backing side meets the backing side. Look at the nap where it is folded. Can you see lots of white backing? That is what you will see when you apolster something with it.
8. When purchasing carpet. Check the face for uniformity. Carpet is like anything else...it is not all perfect, there can be non-uniform areas where the dye didnt take. I have seen the face of carpet get run over by forklifts, check for any obvious dirt marks. Check the backing....make sure it is fastened to the face of the carpet well..Bubbles in the backing anywhere in the carpet are not acceptable..and either mean bad glue or water exposure. It is called "De-lamination" when this occurs. The carpet is no good. Sometimes, when veiwing a big roll...the edges may be delaminated slightly. This sometimes occurs when warehouse workers are careless and drag a roll accross cement floors, and does not necessarily mean the roll is bad. Most carpet will have 3" or so of extra backing around the edge to allow for this.
9. If buying carpet for floors....most carpet comes in 12' widths..but alot is available in 15'. If your room is more than 12', but less than 15' you can avoid seams. Seams also are almost always slightly visible. If seams are necessary...try not to place in the walkways of the room. Place against a wall that does see much foot traffic or is covered with furniture.
Any questions feel free to email me. Good luck!
1. Bring the carpet into the room at least a few hours before installation and unroll if possible. Best to bring it in the night before. Heat affects how the carpet behaves. The warmer the room is the better. This will allow the carpet to RELAX, and will be alot easier to deal with. When the backing is cold it is alot more abrasive also, making for more scratches on painted trim etc..Once the carpet is installed, hung etc..Temperature plays less of a factor. If you put cold carpet on walls or floors....when it gets warm it WILL bulge, sag and stretch.
2. Buy a knife specifically for carpet. Sheetrock/utility knives will work....but carpet knives are much, much better. Buy lots of blades and change them alot...use both sides...(spin the blade around).
3. When cutting, make sure you hold the knife very straight. If you don't, you will shave pile off one side of the cut and it will not look good
4. Make any rough cuts using a chalk-line....preferably with WHITE chalk. Blue and red can stain certain types of carpet....mainly real wool and wool berbers... cut your pieces into the approximate size. After, use a metal straight edge....to make your straight finish cuts (when seaming or a straight edge against trim etc.
5. When stapling or nailing with brads.. spread the nap of the carpet with your fingers and staple where you see the backing. Tap all staples with a hammer....to make sure they are seated and also to further hide them. After stapling , (if you dont have a carpet tractor), use something (maybe a putty knife) to "fluff" the nap around the staple...not so hard as to remove nap...just enough to hide the staple. Use staples with the smallest head available or use carpet brads.
6. This is one of the most important. It is only when dealing with multiple peices. Carpet (fabric also) always has atleast one, direction. This is MOST important with pile carpet as opposed to berber...but berber almost always has some type of pattern to follow. To determine which way a carpet is running: run your hand back and forth across a piece of carpet. You will notice when you go one way...that the carpet lays down that way..and stands up when you go the other(you can also notice it when you vacuum...its what makes those patterns in the carpet.) Make sure all peices you cut, that the nap falls the same way....to add to the confusion of this...some carpet has two directions..Meaning, if you rub side to side...one will stand and one way will fall...and if you run your hand up and down...it will have one way that stands and one that falls. Make sure everything is running the same. Another trick is to lay out your carpet and after while cutting your peices...draw arrows on the backing of the carpet with a marker. If you don't pay attention to nap you will notice BIG color changes in some carpet. Following direction sometimes means buying more carpet than planned. I recommend it. I have been in plenty of homes...that will have a stair tread or landing turned..to save carpet and it looks aweful. This tip also applies to apolstering with velvet or any cloth with a nap. I can't stress it enough...MAKE SURE ITS ALL GOING THE SAME WAY!!!
7. You get what you pay for usually...but when selecting carpet price isnt always the biggest factor. If doing any kind of apolstering with carpet...ie....covering a hushbox, a step etc... take a peice of the carpet you are considering buying and fold a corner over HARD, so the backing side meets the backing side. Look at the nap where it is folded. Can you see lots of white backing? That is what you will see when you apolster something with it.
8. When purchasing carpet. Check the face for uniformity. Carpet is like anything else...it is not all perfect, there can be non-uniform areas where the dye didnt take. I have seen the face of carpet get run over by forklifts, check for any obvious dirt marks. Check the backing....make sure it is fastened to the face of the carpet well..Bubbles in the backing anywhere in the carpet are not acceptable..and either mean bad glue or water exposure. It is called "De-lamination" when this occurs. The carpet is no good. Sometimes, when veiwing a big roll...the edges may be delaminated slightly. This sometimes occurs when warehouse workers are careless and drag a roll accross cement floors, and does not necessarily mean the roll is bad. Most carpet will have 3" or so of extra backing around the edge to allow for this.
9. If buying carpet for floors....most carpet comes in 12' widths..but alot is available in 15'. If your room is more than 12', but less than 15' you can avoid seams. Seams also are almost always slightly visible. If seams are necessary...try not to place in the walkways of the room. Place against a wall that does see much foot traffic or is covered with furniture.
Any questions feel free to email me. Good luck!