tance, and the square fit easily under the cabinet
adHEring and
toekicks. Holding one edge of the square flush to
SEaMing tHE Flooring
the wall, he ran the point of the pin scribe along
Some flooring materials are adhered only along
the other edge—scribing a light line in the felt
the edges ( perimeter bond), whereas others are
paper 11⁄2 in. away from the wall. Because the
completely glued down ( full-spread adhesion).
square’s blades are straight, along curved surfaces Flooring secured by full-spread adhesion is less
he moved the square often, making a number of
likely to migrate or stretch and hence is more
scribe marks to indicate the arc of the curve.
durable. Follow the installation instructions that
It’s OK to use several sections of felt paper if a come with your flooring. Be sure your supplier
room is large or unusually complex. In this case,
provides the manufacturer’s instructions on
be fastidious about marking section edges so you adhesion and seaming methods that may be
can reassemble and tape them to the resilient
unique to your resilient flooring.
sheeting before transcribing the room outline.
On a room of any size, you’ll probably need to
Full-spread adhesion. After the resilient floor-
use several sheets of resilient flooring as well.
ing is final-trimmed in place, it is typically lapped
(Sheet widths vary from 6 ft. to 12 ft.) Important:
back halfway, exposing roughly half the area
When you’re done scribing, gently lift the
underneath. Using a square-notched trowel,
template—but leave the duct tape stuck to the
spread a compatible adhesive on about half the
paper. Loosely roll up the template and carry it
floor. Unroll the lapped portion down into the
to the room where the resilient sheet has been
adhesive, and immediately use a 100-lb. roller on
unrolled on the floor, face up, to warm and flat-
the material to spread the adhesive and drive out
ten. Line up template edges to trimmed flooring
bubbles. Roll across the material’s width first,
edges. Then carefully unroll the template so it
then along its length. Next to the walls, use a
lies flat atop the resilient material (Step 4). Press
hand seam roller to seat the material in the adhe-
down the “boats” so the duct tape sticks to the
sive. Repeat the process with the second half of
resilient flooring, anchoring the template.
the sheet. If you get adhesive on the face of the
flooring, clean it off at once, using a cleaner rec-
Cutting and Fitting
ommended by the manufacturer. (Most glues
rESiliEnt SHEEtS
clean up with water.)
Seaming edges. If one sheet of flooring doesn’t
To transfer the outline of the room to the resilient cover the entire floor, you’ll have at least one
flooring, place a blade of the framing square on
seam edge. Here, be sure to follow the manufac-
the scribed line and run a utility knife along the
turer’s instructions on seam spacing and adhesive
outside edge of the blade, as shown in Step 5 on
applications between individual sections, called
p. 583. The mark made by the utility knife—
drops. For example, manufacturers indicate how
11⁄2 in. beyond the scribed line—represents the
far back from the edges to apply adhesive and
cutline you’ll make in the resilient flooring. But
whether the seams should be butted together or
the utility knife should score the flooring only
overlapped and double-cut through both layers.
about one-third deep. After you’ve scored with
Although manufacturers tell you to butt vinyl
the utility knife, use a hooked knife to cut all the
seams tightly, you’ll need to leave a hairline gap
way through, with the scored line guiding the
between the sections of Marmoleum, which con-
hooked knife. Hold the hooked knife at a slight
tracts along its length and expands across its
angle so it undercuts the edge. At some point,
width. Also, linoleums tend to expand slightly
you’ll also trim off the flooring’s factory edge,
because of the moisture in the adhesive.
which protects the material in transit.
Once you’ve cut the outline, remove the paper
template and loosely roll the flooring with its
Wal -to-Wal Carpeting
back facing out. Carry it to the room to test its fit. Basically, there are two types of wall-to-wall car-
If you need to retrim the flooring to make it fit
peting. Conventional carpeting is laid over a sep-
exactly, you’re in good company. Professional
arate rubber or foam padding and must be
installers always assume they’ll trim because no
stretched and attached to tackless strips around
template measurement is ever 100% accurate.
the perimeter of the room. Cushion-backed car-
When you’re satisfied with the flooring’s fit and
peting, which has foam bonded to its backing,
final position, use a pencil to draw set marks on
doesn’t need to be stretched—it’s usually glued
the underlayment so you’ll know exactly where
down—so it’s generally easier to install. However,
584 Chapter 20
it must be destroyed to remove it. Consequently,
better-quality carpeting is almost always conven-
tional, and that’s the focus here.
Pretrimmed size
zzzzzz Carpet layout
Carpeting doesn’t ask much of subflooring,
of carpet
which can be slightly irregular as long as it is dry,
Fill pieces
solid, and of adequate thickness (5⁄
Seams needed
8-in. plywood is
typical). Carpeting can be installed over existing
wood, tile, resilient flooring, or concrete floors,
but check the manufacturer’s recommendations
regarding subgrade installations, acceptable gaps
in the substrate, padding thickness and type, and
16 ft.
so on. Don’t scrimp on padding; buy the densest
Pile direction
foam or heaviest rubber padding you can.
Windows
CarPEting toolS
You can rent most of the specialized tools.
To install conventional carpeting, you’ll need
the following:
25 ft.
A power stretcher stretches carpeting
Main door
Drop piece
taut across a room, so it can be secured to
tackless strips along opposite walls. Cross-
An ideal layout minimizes waste and seams, positions
room stretching eliminates sags in the middle
seams away from traffic, and orients carpet pile so that
of a room. You simply add and adjust stretcher
someone entering through the main entrance looks into
sections to extend the tool.
the pile. Carpet comes in 12 ft.-wide rolls (also called
bolts), so 41 RF
(running feet) of carpet would al ow enough
A knee-kicker is used in tandem with the
power stretcher to lift the carpet edges onto
extra for trimming edges in this 16 ft. by 25 ft. room.
strips, to stretch the carpet in a closet, or to
draw the seams closer together before you hot-
P R O T I P
glue them.
The stair tool drives carpeting into the
Both knee-kickers and power
spaces between tackless strips and walls and
stretchers have a dial on their
between stair risers and treads.
head, which adjusts the depth of
A seam iron heats the hot-melt carpet
the tool’s teeth. adjust the teeth
seam tape that joins the carpet sections.
so they grab the carpet backing
but not the padding.
A row runner, or row-running knife, cuts
between the rows of loop-pile carpeting. Many
installers use a large, flat-bladed screwdriver
to separate the rows first.
An edge trimmer trims the carpet edges
Carpet Pile and layout
so they can be tucked behind tackless strips;
under baseboards; or under transition pieces
Most carpeting consists of yarn loops stitched through a backing material. the
such as metal carpet doors, which are used in
upper face of the carpet is called the pile. When those yarn loops are uncut, the carpet-
doorways or where dissimilar flooring
ing is called loop pile. When the loops are cut, it is called cut pile. Sculpted pile usually
materials meet.
is a mixture of looped and cut, which frequently creates a pattern.
Seam rollers can be either star wheeled
Because carpeting is stored and transported on a roll, its pile gets pressed down in
(spiked) or smooth; they press the carpet
a direction that it retains thereafter. By stroking a carpet’s pile, you can determine its
edges onto the hot-melt seam tape to ensure a
pile direction. When you look into the pile, the carpet color looks richer and when the
strong bond. Use a smooth roller for cut-pile
pile direction points away from you, the carpet appears lighter. When you install carpet,
carpets and a star roller for loop-pile carpets.
the main entryway of the room should look into the carpet pile so that it appears as
Miscellaneous tools include a utility knife
rich and luxuriant as possible.
with extra blades, aviation snips to cut tackless
also, where it’s necessary to join two pieces of carpet, the pile of at least one piece
strips, a hammer, a stapler if you’re applying
should lean into the seam, thus overlapping and concealing it to some degree. Finally,
padding over plywood, a notched trowel if
if you have to use more than one piece of carpet in a room, all pile should point in the
you’re installing padding over concrete, heavy
same direction. otherwise, the sections will appear to have different hues.
shears, a chalkline, a tape measure, and a
metal straightedge to guide utility-knife cuts.
Flooring
585
EStiMating CarPEt
under such obstacles. To anchor carpet edges in
doorways, you can use a metal carpet bar, which
Carpeting comes on factory rolls whose standard has angled barbs like a tackless strip, as shown in
width is 12 ft.; a handful of carpet manufacturers “Carpet Transitions” on p. 590. Or you can install
offer widths of 13 ft. 6 in. or 15 ft. Plan on cover-
a hardwood threshold to provide a clean edge to
ing most of the room with a large piece of carpet
butt the carpet to, after first anchoring it to a
12 ft. wide, then covering the remaining spaces
tackless strip, or folding the carpet under about
with smaller pieces joined to the large piece with
1 in. and nailing down that hem.
hot-melt seam tape. Professional installers call
the full-width piece of carpet the drop; the small-
inStalling Padding
er pieces are called the fill. Joining carpet seams
Padding, which is usually 6 ft. wide, should run
is time-consuming, so choose a layout that mini-
perpendicular to the carpet to prevent padding
mizes seams.
and carpet seams from lining up. If the padding
Start by measuring the room’s width and length has a slippery side, face it up so carpet can slide
at several points, then make a sketch of the room over it as you position it. Once you’ve rough-cut
on a piece of graph paper. A 1⁄4-in. to 1-ft. scale is
the padding, carefully position the pieces so they
a good size to work with. On the sketch, include
butt to each other. Do not overlap padding sec-
closets, alcoves, base cabinets, floor registers or
tions, which could create a raised welt under the
radiators, stairs, doorways, and other features.
carpet; likewise, padding should not overlap tack-
Also note the location of doors and windows,
less strips. Trim the padding so it butts to the
particularly the main entrance into the room.
edge of the strips. Then use duct tape, or some-
Carpet pile should slant toward the main
thing as strong, to tape the padding seams
entrance, so that a person entering the room
together so they can’t drift.
looks into the carpet pile.
If there’s a plywood subfloor, staple the pad-
Carpet seams and edges must be trimmed,
ding every 6 in. around the perimeter of the floor
so factor that into your estimate. Add 3 in. for
and every 12 in. in the field using 3⁄8-in. staples. If
seamed edges, and allow 6 in. extra for each car-
the substrate is concrete, sprinkle a latex-based
pet edge that runs along a wall. Stair carpet pile
carpet adhesive such as Parabond® M-4259 Solv-
should slant toward a person ascending the stairs. Free around the perimeter of the room and
Try to carpet stairs with a single piece 3 in. wider spread it out with a notched trowel; it’s not neces-
than the stair treads to allow for tucking along
sary to adhere the entire padding. Finally,
both sides of the tread. If the carpet has a repeat-
because concrete is slippery, tape the padding
ing pattern, determine how often it repeats and
edges so they can’t ride up onto tackless strips.
add that amount plus 2 in. to the lengths of
smaller pieces that must be seam-matched to
rougH-Cutting CarPEt
the large piece of carpet covering most of the
When rough-cutting carpet, it’s helpful if you can
room. Given a detailed layout sketch, a flooring
unroll it completely. If you don’t have enough
supplier can refine the estimate and order the
room to do so indoors, unroll it on a clean, dry
correct amount of padding, tackless strips, and
sidewalk or driveway. Sweep the area well before-
other supplies.
hand, and make sure there are no oil stains on
the ground.
inStalling taCKlESS StriPS
Cut the carpet to the overall room dimensions
Wear heavy gloves when handling tackless strips. on your sketch—plus the extra you included for
Nail the strips around the perimeter of the room, seams and trimming along walls. At this stage,
leaving 1⁄4-in. gaps between the strips and the
don’t cut out carpet jogs, such as along cabinets
base of walls so you can tuck the carpet edges
and around doorways, because you’ll cut those
into those gaps. As you nail down each strip,
later, when the carpet is spread out in the floor
try not to hit the angled tack points sticking out
you’re carpeting. Important: Before making any
of the strip. (The tacks should always slant
cuts, note the direction of the carpet pile, espe-
toward walls, away from the center of the
cially if you have more than one piece of carpet-
room.) Because it’s difficult to grasp the strips
ing to cut.
without pricking a finger, use aviation snips to
Transfer the room dimensions to the carpet.
shorten them.
Use a felt-tipped marker on the edge of the carpet
Each strip must be nailed down with at least
to indicate the cutline across its width, or use a
two nails. Nail the strips in front of radiators or
utility knife to notch the carpet’s edges at each
built-in cabinets because it would be difficult to
end of the proposed cut.
nail the strips or to stretch carpeting behind or
586 Chapter 20
LAYING WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING
Tackless strips come in 4-ft. lengths, with nails suitable
for the substrate. This strip has short, case-hardened
masonry nails for attaching strips to a concrete slab. Wear
goggles when driving such nails down.
In the old days, installers tacked the perimeter of a carpet every inch and hand-sewed sections
together. Today, carpet seams are joined with hot-melt tape (above right) and stretched onto
tackless strips that hold the edges securely. The tool to the right of the installer is a knee-kicker,
used to move carpet.
In general, cut loop-pile carpet from its pile
side (its face), and cut cut-pile carpet from its
backing side. To cut carpet with cut pile, flop the
edge of the carpet over so its backing is up, and
snap a chalkline between the two notches you
made in the carpet’s edges. Cut along the chalk-
line with a utility knife or a double-edged flooring
knife, using a long, metal straightedge to guide
the blade. If the carpet is loop pile, cut it with the
Renovation 4th Edition Page 135