Fitting Carpet Underlay

Can you DIY the carpet laying? Unless you have been taught, then no, certainly you could try a small room, but getting that carpet taught with no lumps and bumps is not easy. Its far easier, especially with rooms with nooks and crannies to leave the cutting and heaving that heavy carpet around to an expert..

However, it is possible to lay your own underlay.

If you are simply putting a new carpet in, and the underlay is ok underneath, or you just need to buy a small amount to replace where the underlay is damaged, then it is possible. However, be aware that new underlay may be 'thicker' as it would not have been walked on, so inspect carefully, once the carpet is fitted its too late to do anything about it.. Scroll down for things to do before your carpet fitter arrives.

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You will have to do your own calculations, but often the carpet seller may give free fitting, if you buy enough carpet, or fit for a reduced price. However, in my experience (and things change all the time) I have found hiring a local carpet fitter to do the work is great. Many do similar houses locally, so understand how local houses are, and often have worked for carpet companies and are very experienced. Saying that, you want to give the young 'uns a chance, asking the question of your carpet company, about who the carpet fitter is going to be works well.

Some important Do's

Give your floor a good clean, this will ensure that the underlay itself will have a prolonged life.

Clean the edges of the room thoroughly where the wall meets the floor. Edging will be laid in a gap between the underlay and the wall to grab on to the carpet, and if this is dirty, then its going to be difficult to clean later.

If you have any cabling, like telephone, ethernet or door bell cables, these should be 'sorted' and in place before the carpet is laid. Hidden now will mean the room will look so much better later. They are usually tacked to the bottom of the skirting or to the floor, but depending on the age of the house and the type of flooring, you may already have these within conduits. But its an important consideration.

Try to empty the room as much as possible. Depending on the size of your room, leaving only the sofa or a table is going to be fine the carpet fitter can work round this, but its going to be such a quicker, job when the fitter has the space to do their work.

The carpet fitter will fit the gripper rods, those thin wooden rods with spikes in that help stretch the carpet, close to, but not touching the skirting or wall. That gap is where the carpet will be tucked into.

Kluziak, M. "Carpet Calculator". Available at: https://www.omnicalculator.com/construction/carpet. Accessed: 26 April 2023.