Corrente

If you have "no place to go," come here!

Common household remedies request

lambert's picture
Submitted by lambert on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 12:14pm

Thanks to the carpet experts here, so but and I'm about to do it wrong:

I have a thick runner with finished edges and carpet rods.

1. I'm not going to put in a pad. First, the previous carpet lasted for years, and didn't have one. Second, I don't like a soft stair under my feet; it feels creepy to me, like one of those wall-to-wall gracious living setups. Third, I don't want to have to move the rod eyelets because the pad thickens everything up; that sounds like work. Also, too, money.

2. So I'm thinking the process is tack at the top of the landing and work my way down: Roughly shape the step, put in the rod, tighten, then tack up under the tread lip. Repeat.

3. At the top of the landing, where the unfinished (cut) edge of the carpet meets the baseboard (the stair turns at the landing) I'll get one of those metal strips and tack it down. The alternative seems to be to tack it as is (ick) or fold it under then tack it, so if the carpet gets worn at the tread lips I can play with the excess at the fold. That sounds like work, plus an unsightly bulge.

Experts?

0
No votes yet

Comments

Salmo's picture
Submitted by Salmo on

Hi Lambert. I'm being a snowbird right now, and I have parked the RV in a place without WiFi (they're cheaper), so I just got your question. Sorry if it held you up.

I think that you are on the right track. The sequence starts at the top, and follows naturally with each step and rod. Tacking under the lip will tighten the runner nicely. Putting in the rod first keeps the runner straight, but take care to keep the tacks even and straight across.

The tricky part is those ends. We used tackless, but it was different enough from what I think you are doing that I think your ideas about a finishing strip or turning and tacking the end are at least as good. Not being able to see your carpet, but remembering that you described it as quite thick, it might be worthwhile to take a piece of scrap and see how a turn and tack job would look before you cut for a final installation. If you take that approach, keep the tacks tight to the edge and tight enough to each other that there is no pucker. You should not see the tack heads driven down through the pile to the backing. Most of the metal strips I installed were aluminum, nailed on first, and into which the carpet was pushed so that it caught tackless type hooks inside. The top was then hammered down to hold the carpet (using a scrap of carpet to pad the top so that the hammer did not mark the aluminum).

I applaud your careful determination to take on this job. It's going to take longer than it appears, but the steps are simple taken individually, and the job will look great when you are done.

Turlock