I ran out of money on my spec home. No carpet layers will do it on a derferred payment basis.
Can anyone help me with carpeting a stairway.
Don’t worry, I’ll do all the work, I just need some advice.
ie. How wide do I cut the carpet. do I need to make any additional cuts. I’ll plan on doing a waterfall (the easiest way i believe).
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Replies
I personally hate the waterfall, but your right, it is the easiest. Use tack strips at the back of the tread, use a real carpet stapler, don't even think about using the stapler in your basement. Don't be afraid to cut the carpet halfway down the flight, ease of installation. Have a knee kicker (of couse) and if your like me, this will be your first and last time you put in carpet.
I'll just add to the previous post. We just had carpet laid by an old pro, 72 years old.
He put tack strips at the back of the horizontal tread and the bottom of the vertical riser where they meet (both surfaces), maybe 1/2" from the corner, both ways. He also put tack strips along the sides of the horizontal treads. Then the carpet pad was stapled down from the tack strip at the back of the tread, over and around the front tread nose, and stapled to the riser above its tack strip (diagonally from the tread nose to where it was tacked on the riser).
The carpet was cut maybe 1/2" wider than the stairs. I don't remember him trimming much of anything, just stuffing the carpet between the tack strips and the wall. The carpet on a landing or floor above would be lapped over the first riser to the first riser/tread intersection where it was cut and stapled. Seemed like he always started on stairs at the riser/tread intersection with any piece of carpet. Pushing it into the corner to hook it on the tack strips, stapling it, and then stretching around the tread to the next riser/tread intersection. After stuffing it into a riser/tread intersection and continuing on, he would pull out a tool that looked to me like a 4" wide masonry chisel, but it was duller, and he would pound the carpet into the corner intersection to hook it securely before moving on. He would use the knee kicker to stretch the carpet L, R, and back into the corner at times.
One thing he said was he always laid stairs with the carpering in the direction it was on the roll, never crosswise. And, there can be a grain one way or the other to check. For open-sided stairs along a railing, there were no tack strips on that side, and he cut the carpet 1 1/2" wider and rolled it under, tacking it at the back corner and gluing it with contact cement along the edge. The pad for the exposed riser was also tapered back so it didn't show.
Hope this helps.
Thanks much.