How to Install Carpet With a Knee Kicker

Wear thick gloves and clear, safety goggles.

Place the tack strips 1/2 inch from the walls of the work area. Use a hammer to nail the tack strips into the subfloor, making sure the teeth face the wall.

Secure the carpet padding to the subfloor with carpet adhesive, butting the ends of the padding against the tack strips but not covering them.

Place the carpet on the floor, centered within the room. Allow the carpet 24 hours to settle and ventilate.

Attach a 3-by-3-foot section of carpet onto the tack strips located within the starting corner. Use your hands to press the corner of the carpet onto the teeth of the tack strip, leaving 3 inches extra against the wall.

Place the protruding teeth, located on the bottom of the knee kicker, into the carpet 1 inch from the wall.

Knock your dominate, or strongest knee into the padded cushion of the carpet knee kicker to force the carpet to engage with the tack strip teeth. Repeat hitting the cushion of the knee kicker towards the wall until the carpet is secure and attached.

Continue securing the carpet to the tack strips along the entire length of the wall. Use a carpet knife to cut the excess carpet running up the wall so it is flush.

Move to the opposite side of the room, and stretch the carpet with a carpet stretcher, pulling the carpet towards the opposite wall from where you just were.

Secure the carpet over the tack strips by banging your knee into the knee kicker. Cut the excess carpet flush with the wall, using the carpet knife.

Repeat this process for the remaining walls within the room, trimming the excess carpet flush with the wall, using the carpet knife.

Place a stair tool at the edge of the carpet, and hammer it so the carpet pushes down underneath the baseboards. Repeat this process along each wall.