How to Put Carpet on the Floor

Measure out from the wall the distance of two-thirds the thickness of your carpeting and make a mark on the subfloor. Snap a chalk line on the subfloor along each wall at this mark; this is the location for your tackless strips.

Don thick work gloves and goggles when working with tackless strips. Don't let the name fool you; these feature extremely strong tacks and nails to hold the carpeting in place and will easily damage skin.

Line up the top of the tackless strip with the marked line, and nail it in place with one masonry nail on each end and one in the center. Line the entire perimeter of the room with these trips. If it's necessary to cut them, do so with wood shears or a table saw.

Roll your carpet padding into the room. Trim it with a sharp utility knife so that it lines up with the perimeter of the tackless strips.

Staple the padding to the subfloor every 6 inches along the perimeter. If you have to use multiple rolls, butt them tightly up against each other and seal the seams with duct tape to prevent shifting.

Roll out the carpet in another room face-down. Measure the longest wall of your room and add 4 inches to that measurement. Mark out that measurement on the back of your carpet with a pencil, and then cut along that line with a carpet cutter or utility knife. This gives you a fairly accurate sizing, with a little extra in case of mistakes.

Roll the measured and cut carpet into the room and center it, so that about 2 inches of excess run up each wall.

Trim the carpet so that it lays flat at the corners. For outside corners, start at the top and cut down until the carpet lays against the floor. For inside corners, cut a small "V" shape in the carpet, so that the bottom of the "V" is in the corner and the two sides lay flat against the floor.

Line up your knee kicker, which is a small power stretcher, about 1 inch from the wall in one corner of the room. Force the teeth of the kicker into the carpet, then bang your knee against the back until you force the teeth up to the tackless strip.

Push down firmly on the knee kicker's head to embed the carpet into the tackless strip. Then carefully pull back to release the teeth; you now have one corner of the carpet secured.

Butt the base of your power stretcher against the wall where you just hooked your first corner. Set a piece of scrap wood between the stretcher and the wall to prevent damaging the wall.

Run the power stretcher across the room until the head of the stretcher sits 6 inches from the opposite wall. Lower the lever to dig the teeth into the carpet and stretch it into the tackless strips. Repeat using the stretcher in the other corner on this wall.

Move to the corner opposite of where you started. Use the knee kicker, followed by the power stretcher just as you did before. Repeat in all corners until the carpet is secured to the tack strips all around the room.

Trim off the excess carpet from the walls with a utility knife or carpet cutter. Then run the flat edge of the carpet cutter or a stair tool to force the remaining carpet down into the gap between the wall and the tackless strips around the entire perimeter of the room.