Carpet is a great flooring material for homes with children. It can provide warmth and safety for toddlers and small kids; it can offer comfort and additional style to the interior design as well. But once you decide on covering your home floor with carpet, one of the most essential questions pop up: whether to do everything yourself or to hire professional carpet installers.
In most cases people believe that DIY carpet installation projects cost less, even though require just a bit more time. The reality, however, is different from the expectations they have. For this reason the article below is dedicated to the whole truth about carpet installation.
Carpet installation tools
Carpet installation requires a number of special tools, such as a power stretcher or a knee kicker. Should you decide to install carpets yourself, be ready that you will need to have every tool from this list. If you’ve just checked it out and got surprised by the number of tools you have to find and obtain, then hiring a professional carpet installation contractor is your option. Without any doubt, it’s not too complicated to find the required tools in the nearest tool rental store. But if you have no knowledge about a tool’s purpose, then getting it, will bring you little use if any at all.
To sum up, if you know how to handle carpet installation tools, then you can give DIY project a try; if you don’t know what a carpet tucker is, then you’d better call an expert.
Knowledge and expertise
Even after reading the first point of the article, you’ve already understood that knowledge and experience are two key factors influencing the type of your carpet installation project. If you have never performed carpet installation yourself (even though you’ve seen others doing it hundreds of times), then there is no reason for you to take the risk of unassisted carpet installation. Professional carpet installers have knowledge that goes far beyond the use of the tools. They know everything about carpet padding. Should you try doing it yourself you are likely to get bumps in padding and, as a result, bumps in the carpet. Carpet installation also requires perfect cutting skills because the carpet is always sold with a little excess of material to fit it perfectly into a room. And now imagine your calculations were wrong and you made the wrong cut! You get upset, angry, and, on top of that, a ruined carpet. Do you really want this?
To sum up, experience and knowledge are crucial when it comes to carpet installation. Always get expert assistance from carpet installers or just rely on their professional skills in everything by assisting them.
Questions to ask yourself
Before you decide to perform carpet installation as a DIY project, make sure to answer the following questions.
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Can I lay the padding and the carpet down according to the manufacturer’s specifications?
Should the answer be different from a firm “yes”, don’t even think of doing everything yourself. Hire carpet installers out of harm’s way. Otherwise you risk destroying the carpet itself and losing the warranty forever.
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Can I stretch the carpet and padding? Can I secure the carpet with glue or tack strips?
If “tack strips” sound similar to “bacon strips”, then carpet installation is not your cup of tea. Should you understand the technological process, but are afraid to make a mistake, at least consult an expert for the best result.
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Do I have odd shaped corners to work around?
Not all corners surrender to experts, there are some spots that even the best professionals will have to sweat over. This means that if you have anything unusual in your home for carpet installation, it’s highly advised to call carpet installers.
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Can I trim down the carpet and the padding to match the space?
As it has already been discussed above, if you don’t know how to cut your flooring material then starting a DIY project will be a suicide project for you. Leave such complicated and complex processes and just enjoy the result of their work.
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Do I know how to use the tools?
If you have tried carpet installation tools before, then you will be able to handle the whole process. If not, then you can always ask experts to teach you, yet we recommend assisting an expert with such matters and not vice versa.
Carpet installation cost
In most corners of the US, carpet installers will charge you based on the square yard of the carpet installed. The cost doesn’t usually include the cost of materials, which are padding and carpet itself, however it depends on the company. The cost of a professional carpet installation service also varies if you need the contractors to remove the old flooring or not. By removing the old carpet yourself you can save. On average, carpet installation projects in America require around $1,591 and, typically, you can expect to spend between $738 and $2,444.
Such situations as when an inexperienced person with no knowledge about carpet installation decides to put a new carpet without any assistance very often result in a disaster. People begin literally hating their previously gorgeous and carefully chosen carpet because it was laid in the wrong way. The main idea is not to save a penny by losing hundreds of dollars. Even if you’re an experiences carpet installation DIYer, still consult the local contractor and get some professional tips from them.
