Carpet Not Nailed Down

Beautiful hardwood stairs will be ruined by the addition of carpeting because the tack strips need to be nailed down creating holes in the wood.

Carpet not nailed down.

It should be approximately 3 inches longer than the flat portion of your stair so it wraps under the lip of the stair and it must be 1 4 inch shorter than the size of your carpet runner so it adequately pads without sticking out on the edges. The first step before installing carpet tacks is to make sure the floor is clean. Grab the cut end of carpet and pull it from the stairs using gloved hands. If not cut the carpet near the top of the top stair riser.

An installer will cut the carpet to fit a room exactly but the carpet is not attached to the floor. For wall to wall carpeting carpet tack strips should be installed around the edges of the room leaving a space about the width. The carpet is laid loosely over the floor. Not suitable for heavy rolling traffic or extensive light duty rolling traffic.

It is difficult to fix unattractive stairs because they do not lend themselves to painting. Carpet works wonders on stairs like this. Begin at the top of the stairs. Carpet tack strips can usually remain in place but look for rust rot or other damage.

Cut the carpet padding to place on the tack strips. Cut to fit carpet installation a cut to fit carpet installation is not a bona fide installation. Besides most homeowners with nice wooden stairs wouldn t be. Pry up the metal nosing and remove it if present.

Carpet tacks are strips of wood designed to hold a carpet in place so that you don t have to nail the carpet directly to the floor.