How to Install Carpet on Steps
Since the staircase gets more use than any other carpeted area in your house, you must choose the best carpet and pad that you can afford. And if you lay it yourself instead of having a professional do it for you, you need to know the intricacies of installing carpet on a flight of steps before you begin. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Tack-less strips Knee pads Knee kicker (check your rental store) Utility knife Hammer Safety glasses
Instructions
-
Directions
-
1
If you are replacing old carpet for the stairs, remove it and the padding along with the old carpet strips that probably were nailed in place. Be sure that the flooring is smooth and without tacks or nails before you lay the new carpeting. If you cannot make it smooth, consider laying a thin layer of plywood on the wood floor.
-
2
Use tack-less strips instead of traditional ones. They are made of wooden batten that have pins that are at an angle and glue to the floor instead of having to be nailed down. These are necessary to hold your carpet in place. Put one of the strips at the bottom of the first step, in the back of each step going up to the top of the staircase, then finish this phase of the job by putting one about 3 inches from the edge of the top step into the landing.
-
-
3
Buy the best padding that you can afford because the better the padding, the longer that your carpet will last. The carpet stores will try to make most of their profit by upselling you on your carpet, but it's the padding that really makes the difference. Urethane padding is thicker than rubber padding, but both are better at repelling mildew than padding made of fabric. Whichever you can afford, use a staple gun to attach it to the floor and make sure that it reaches all the strips that you have installed.
-
4
If possible, buy the carpet for the stairs in strips that fit them rather than carpet that you need to cut, because you will run into a problem making your carpet even. Also, make sure that you buy enough carpet for the stairs because it is difficult to splice additional carpet in the event of a shortfall.
-
5
Place your carpet on the staircase, and push it onto the first tack-less strip on the bottom of the stairs. Then use a knee kicker that you can rent to stretch the carpet to the next strip. Start first in the middle of each step then go to one side, then the other. Do this for each step until you are at the top of the stairs, stopping at each to be sure that the carpet is tight and flat. If you have planned properly, there should be an excess of carpeting when you have finished, and you will need to cut it carefully to meet the carpeting on the landing.
-
1
