How to Lay Carpet on a Cement Floor

Measure each wall with a tape measure. Transfer these measurements to tackless strips with a pencil. Tackless strips use rows of small pins to hold carpet to the floor. Many tackless strips come with small masonry nails pre-installed.

Cut the tackless strips with a hacksaw on the pencil marks. Set each tackless strip against its wall.

Nail the tackless strips to the cement floor with a hammer. The tackless strip's pins must face toward the wall and the masonry nails will face the concrete. Keep the tackless strips 2/3 of the thickness of the carpet from the wall. Drive every masonry nail into the cement.

Roll carpet padding over the cement. Start the edge of the padding at the tackless strip and roll it to the far wall. Keep the threaded waffle up. Cut the padding with a razor knife at the far wall's tackless strip.

Tape each padding seam with duct tape. When complete, the padding will cover the entire space between the tackless strips in one solid piece.

Roll half of the room's padding up. Apply a generous bead of padding glue near the tackless strip and in several spots in the middle of the floor.

Unroll the padding over the glue. Do not let the padding bunch up or wrinkle. Glue the second half of the room, using the same method used on the first half.

Unroll the carpet over the padding. Start the carpet in the far corner of the room and leave about 1/2 inch extra at each tackless strip.

Adjust the carpet so that its edges square with the walls.

Cut the carpet around each door and corner with a razor knife. Always leave an extra 1/2 inch over each tackless strip at the wall.

Join each carpet seam where two pieces of carpet meet with carpet tape and a carpet iron. Apply the carpet tape to the bottom of a piece of carpet. Press the second piece of carpet into the tape. Heat the carpet's surface with a carpet iron. The amount of heat each seam requires depends on the type of carpet and its thickness.

Pull on the carpet's edge to eliminate wrinkles.

Adjust the carpet as needed so it still has 1/2 inch extra around the edges.

Stretch the carpet with a carpet stretcher. A carpet stretcher uses small pins to grab the carpet on one end and has a padded square on the other end to strike with a knee. Place the pin end of the stretcher 1 to 2 inches from the wall. Hold the stretcher down with a hand, then strike the padded square with a knee. Work from one corner out in both directions to the adjoining walls, then stretch the last two walls separately.

Trim the edges of the carpet with a razor knife. Leave the thickness of the carpet at all walls.

Push the edge of the carpet down between the tackless strip and the walls with a stair tool. A stair tool looks like a thin chisel with a 3-inch blade. Carpets with a thick pile may require striking the stair tool with a rubber mallet.