How to Attach Carpet

Attaching carpet to a home's subfloor is an important step in the carpet installation process. In most installations, carpet attachment requires the use of tack strips laid around the edges of a room. This allows for the replacement or restretching of carpet as it ages and wears out. When attaching carpet to tack strips, you will need a power stretcher to stretch the carpet and make it taut, thus removing the possibility of bubbles in the carpet.

Broom
Cement crack filler
Saw
Tack strips
Carpet pad
Rubber mallet
Putty knife
Power stretcher
Knee kicker

Instructions

- 1
  Prepare the floor for laying carpet. Sweep any dirt off the subfloor and fill cracks in cement subfloors with an approved filler.
- 2
  Measure and cut tack strips to fit along the edges of each wall in the room. Attach the tack strips using the short nails connected to the strips. Lay the carpet pad down in between the tack strips.
- 3
  Attach the carpet to the tack strips on one side of the room. Lightly pound the carpet onto the tack strip with a rubber mallet. Tuck the carpet edge under the baseboard with a putty knife.
- 4
  Lay the power stretcher on the carpet. Connect one end to the carpet attached to the tack strips. Open the stretcher to the length of the room.
- 5
  Stretch the carpet in a fan shape, working from the center of the room toward the outer edges. Tap the carpet onto the tack strips with the rubber mallet. Cut excess carpet from the wall and tuck the edge under the baseboard with the putty knife.
- 6
  Move around the room, tapping the carpet with the rubber mallet to attach the carpet to the tack strips. Look for any loose or bubbled areas and restretch the carpet, or use a knee kicker for areas near the walls.

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