When it comes to carpet installation on a staircase, the installer should be instructed in the proper way to fit the rug to the steps. If it is a “do it yourself” installation deal, then the homeowner should take the time to understand the steps of proper stairway installation before attempting the process.
Formerly, the stair rods held individually on the steps, but this is no longer true in regards to the new type of thick carpet and heavy underneath. Technology in the carpeting industry has advanced to avoid carpet slag and ripples that sometimes appears in the runners and carpeting on the stairway. These are dangerous and can cause accidents and falls. Presently, a tackless strip and the stair rods are, while decorative, are basically now unessential.
Familiarizing one’s self with the process of carpet underlay is extremely important in the process.
Firstly, it is important that stair features are sturdy and don’t have any structure flaws that weaken the steps. Floorboards should not be loose in any way. Any tacking of floor nails that stick up and snag from the carpet that was formerly down need to be removed and the area should be well cleaned free of debris.
Next, it is very important to not have any overlapping carpet on the stairs after it is laid. Strips should run parallel on the stairs in a very tight formation. They may already be of the self adhesive type, but if not they should probably be stapled for security. Edges need to be trimmed and the self adhesive tape will secure it to the area and be hidden so as not to show after the carpet has been put down.
There are important carpet facts that one needs to know about putting carpet down upon the steps are included in these next few steps to carpeting the stairs.
First, the rug needs to overlap the edge of the floor by approximately 4 inches. This overlap will be used to fit the flooring to the stairway and then later, the excess can be cut and tailored to the stairs.
Second, if the need to match the carpeting in certain areas appears, the look will be more successful if a carpet cutter is used to fit the area by cutting the backside of the flooring.
Next, seam tape should be used to join the seams by putting the sticky part of the tape on the underside of the carpet. Some of these types of carpet tapes need to be activated by a hot iron to make the carpet seamless and neat.
The flooring will need to be stretched with a kicker, this is a tool used to grab hold onto the rug with teeth on one side that will stretch the new floor as the knee “kicks” and stretches the rug and keeps it where it belongs.
And last, decorative rods can now be attached on every stair step. After the rods are screwed down, while adding decoration, they are also functional in the fact that they do make the carpet more secure.