How To Put Carpeting on Concrete

Remove all items from the room. Sweep the concrete floor with a broom. Make sure you sweep along the sides of the room and in the corners. If necessary, wash the concrete floor. However, the floor needs to be completely dry before beginning carpet installation.

Measure the length and width of your room. Transfer these measurements to tack strips. Cut the strips to the appropriate lengths using a saw.

Place the tack strips along the walls. Keep them approximately 1/4 inch away from the wall. Cut off any excess on the strips so that they meet at each corner. Hammer masonry nails through the tack strips and directly into the concrete floor to hold the strips in place.

Roll carpet padding across the concrete floor. Cut the padding into manageable strips with a utility knife. The strips need to be long enough to stretch across the room, reaching from one tack strip to the strip directly across from it.

Place the corner of the first strip of carpet padding into one corner of the room. Make sure the waffle texture side of the padding is up. Three edges of this strip of carpet padding should be against a tack strip, but not on top of it. Lay the second strip of carpet padding next to the first. Apply a strip of packaging tape over the seam between the two strips. Continue this way until the entire floor has been covered.

Spray carpet pad adhesive on the underside of the carpet pad, along the edges. Push the carpet pad onto the concrete floor. Wait for the adhesive to dry before continuing. Drying time will be found in the manufacturer's directions.

Roll out the carpet and turn it face down. Cut the carpet approximately 5 inches larger than the room's dimensions, with a utility knife. Position one corner of the carpet into a corner of the room. Make sure all carpet edges are positioned on a tack strip and are tight against the walls.

Butt two carpet pieces next to each other if your room is larger than one roll of carpet. Center a piece of seaming tape over the seam, on the underside of the carpet. Run a carpet iron over the seaming tape to heat it up. Pinch the carpet pieces together when the tape is warm to mask the seam.

Place a knee kicker in one corner of the room. It should be placed teeth down on the carpet and approximately 1 inch from the wall. Kneel behind the knee kicker and use your knee to kick the flat end of it. Attach the back of the carpet to the tack strip in the corner.

Move to the corner on the other side of the room from the corner hooked on the tack strip. Place a carpet stretcher in this corner. The foot of the stretcher should be placed flat against the wall. Push the teeth of the stretcher into the carpet and lock it into place.

Pull the carpet toward the wall by pushing down on the handle. Place the knee kicker in the corner and use it to pull the carpet onto the tack strip, the same way you did in Step 8. Work down the wall until the entire edge of carpet is attached to the tack strip.

Move back across the room and use the stretcher on that edge of the carpet. Continue using the knee kicker to hook the carpet onto the tack strips. Repeat on the third and fourth wall as well.

Use a utility knife to trim away the excess carpet from all walls of the room, leaving about 1/2 to 3/4 inch all around. Use the edge of your knee kicker to push the carpet edges down between the tack strips and the wall molding. Install a carpet trim over the edge of the carpet in front of doors or entryways.