Has Anyone Done Any Carperting Themselves?
I was wondering if anyone out there has every done any carpeting themselves? I have a property that i am finishing up w/ the rehabbing, all i have left is to put the carpet down. I would rather do the job myself than pay a contractor. But this would be my first time laying carpert. I have all the carpet tacks from the previous carpert that I ripped up before.
Is there anybody out there with this experience that could help a newbie. Thanks
I tried that . . . Once! It definatly takes some getting used to. My carpet looked crappy. my main problems were that I used old carpet that already had wear patterns in it. that just made it more difficult. I started out trying to do it with a knee kicker, and quicly realized that would not work. (don't buy a knee kicker from harbor frieght tools, or any cheap chinese made brand. you should probably spend at least $70 on one) So I rented a power strecher from home depot (cheap) The Last big problem I had was cutting the carpet off correctly along the edges. they sell a special tool that does that right for about $90 or something. That might be worth it to get. Otherwise good luck, Sounds like fun.
Josh
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Why yes I have - And never again!
It looked easy enough and than I got into the project and I truly thought I was going to die due to the physical aspects of it all.
When it was all said and done it looked like crap and I had to have professional come out and fix all the problems all the way laughing at me for my work and on his way to the bank when I paid him.
I have found out a few things when it comes to property repair, I simply do not do the work myself any more as I purchase at a price that covers my cost of repairs.
I make more money looking and negating deals than I do fixing them up.
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There are 2 areas in rehabbing where no matter what you will be better off paying somebody else to do it for you. Sheet rocking ceilings and laying carpet.
I would always buy the carpet from a wholesale house supplier and have a list of 2-3 really good carpet layers so you can always have one available. While laying carpet isn't rocket science, you need to be really good at it and it is back breaking work, besides it is relatively inexpense to have laid for you. You can save money by ripping up the old carpet and pad, however I wouldn't bother saving old carpet nailing strips. They are so cheap and a good installer will want to install his own.
Rehabinator, about those carpet strips, I pulled up carpet and wasn't sure if I should leave the nail strips, down thought I could save some money, so i left them, would it be better to go ahead and take them up, so that the carpet installer won't have to.
Thanks
Quote:
On 2004-12-30 00:35, dakerrian wrote:
Rehabinator, about those carpet strips, I pulled up carpet and wasn't sure if I should leave the nail strips, down thought I could save some money, so i left them, would it be better to go ahead and take them up, so that the carpet installer won't have to.
Thanks
Ask your carpet guy when getting bids.
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I'm with everybody else, carpet installers work cheap. The tools to do it yourself are expensive and the end result of self installation is likely to look bad.
The other project I wouldn't tackle is installing garage doors-- and I usualy do everything else myself or with a crew I trained.
Leave the tack strips down. Your installer will reuse what is good and replace what is bad. Usually 1 or 2 linear feet are going to be bad in a room with 80 linear feet of tack strip.
CommercialKing- Garage doors, gotta add that to my list of do not tackle yourself, good call.
Garage doors are easy to install but it is not cost effective. I have learned that If you buy the doors from the same company that installs them you will generally pay the same price (installed) as if you buy them uninstalled from a home center.
It doesn't compute but it is a fact...check it out.
I, too, will never do my own carpet again. The glue down stuff is not bad to install yourself but it is the worst stuff in the world to remove.
Carpet layers, like most contractors take the easy way out if they can. The cost of carpet installation (as a norm) includes the tack strip. Take the time to knock out the old if there was any type of water or other damage in your rehabbed area. Poor tack strip will hold carpet but it will not last.
I do electrical, plumbing (my favorite), some hvac, roofing, tiling, etc, AND CARPETING.
The first time I did it I told everyone else, just let it up to the pros. But then when I hired someone to do my next job, I watched and learned and asked him questions.
After a 1-2 more tries, I got everything down pretty much with only a kicker, special knife, and stair tool. A stretcher would be nice (And EZ on the back/knees) but anythign under 30 feet should be OK with the kicker.
The biggest trade-off in my opinion is the labor. I install my own carpet and even sometimes sub out the installation if I'm busy with other stuff, cuz it DOES take its toll on you physically.
If you do have someone else do it, it pays to remove the old carpet, leave the carpet tacking (strips) there, and lay your own padding. This way all the carpet layer has to do is lay the carpet. Be sure to let them quote you a price for labor only THEN ask "How much would it be if I have the padding down already?" IT's ez work to do the padding.
If you want to learn, do searches on the internet on how to install carpet. There's GREAT free info out there. I also got my basic knowledge from going to the bookstore and reading books on the topic. You can also ask the folks in the carpet department in the Lowes/HomeDepot stores who have probably been in the business. That's how I overcame my fear of doing SEAMS ...now I think It's cool that I'm doing 'em.
If nothing else, read up on the topic, you will be more enboldened and perhaps do your first try in your own bedrooms. That's how I got started too.
Tony
Tony, my hats off to you for doing your own carpeting. But anybody who doesn't use a power stretcher I wouldn't hire to lay my carpet. A power stretcher is a mandatory tool for properly laying carpet that is over pad and held by tack strips. It is impossible to properly stretch carpet with a knee kicker so that the carpet won't stretch out and begin buckling in 12-18 months.
I'm not knocking you for taking on the task, but you would be doing a service to your purchasers of the property, because you are essentially selling them carpeting layed with a defect. A power stretcher isn't very expensive and it will actually make your job easier, since you have mastered all the other harder parts of the job a power stretcher wouldn't be much of a stretch (pardon the pun) for you to top off your skills.
Yeah, I agree that a poer stretcher is best policy every time.
There are a lot of carpets however that you can stretch sufficiently with a kicker. I put in this Nylon stuff from Lowe's that's only $1/sq.ft. that's got a lot of streatch in it.
Now a berber, I'm going with a stretcher with no doubt.
Most everything DOES need a stretcher, but I do feel you can use only the kicker with certain carpets. I have 4 carpets in my home done with my kicker and since it was a carpet that has a lot of stretchyness in it, it has no buckling anywhere ..so far