Virginia Carpet & Wood Flooring Installation

Measure your floorspace. When you measure your floor, make sure to use a tape measure with feet and inches. Some digital devices only measure in feet and decimals. Measure across the room from wall to wall and add two inches to your final result. Do the same for the back to front measurement. These extra two inches give you extra material to work with. Make sure to measure into the recesses of your doorways and closets.

Cut your materials. If you're working with carpet, make sure you cut the padding so it covers the tackless strips along the wall. Also, working with pile carpet means cutting along the back, and working with shag means cutting along the front of the carpet. If you're using seams, leave two inches of overlap. Cutting hardwood planks may mean waiting until you've laid your planks to determine how much extra you have. When you do, use a circular saw.

Lay your carpet. Lay down your padding first, bumpy side up, all the way to the tackless strips on the edges of the wall. Use a stapler to attach the padding to the strips. Staple six inches apart. If you're using seams in your carpet, line up the two pieces and use a snap chalk liner to get a cutting line. Trim your carpet and attach the two ends with seam tape, sticky side up. Use carpet glue, tacks or tack strips to attach your carpeting to the sub floor.

Install your wood flooring. If you have a concrete sub floor, make sure it is level. For wood sub flooring, it should be completely dry; a polyurethane moisture barrier will help keep your floors from warping. Pre-lay your flooring to uncover any sizing problems and then proceed with the permanent installation. Gluing is a good method for concrete sub floors, stapling and nailing are all good methods of attaching flooring to wood sub floors.