Fitting carpet myself

Thea

Has anyone any advice on laying my own carpet?

The carpet we want is costing £500 for carpet and fitting alone, but I was able to find this for £300 online and another £50 for underlay etc.

It is a living room carpet. Standard shape with the fireplace needing cutting out. Instructions I have found seem quite straight forward, but I wondered if anyone else had tried this. All hints and tips welcome. :beer:

DirectDebacle

Some jobs are best left to the pros and for me carpet fitting is one such job.

Clearing the room, fitting the gripper rods and underlay and putting everything back is enough for me.

Find a fitter that will give you a price per sq. mtr. for comparison.

I_have_spoken

Yep, get an independent fitter in.

Errata

How much do you value your knees?

nickj_2

if you make a mistake and cut too much off it will cost you more to replace , unless you have the right tools and are 100% certain you can do it , i would just get a fitter in to do it,, i wouldn't thought it's goimg to cost that much to lay

phill99

Don't do it. Just don't do it. It'll probably cost you £50 to get it laid. It's one thing that the pros make look really easy, but trust me, it isn't!

You have a high chance of messing up £300 worth of carpet. Very unwise. Plus it will only take a pro an hour. It'll take you all day.

Kiran

I did laid the carpet in the smallest bedroom in our house. It too me almost 8 hours to get it to look right and even then its not spot on. Asking an independent for a price is the way to go. If you know what the Carpet is that you want, ask them to price that too on the off chance that you canget it cheaper. BTW you may be able to buy your underlay cheaper online and if not cheaper get a higher spec underlay for the same price.

Good luck if you do go for it though

cyclonebri1

I have to 2nd all the above, although I would do it myself.

Only reason for that is that I have the time, am a super tight !!!, and would seriously class my self in the expert DIY grade in terms of ability.

Take a look at the callouses on any aged carpet fitter, the hands are horrendous and as said the knees have gone . On 2nd thoughts, now I'm older I wouldn't do it.

To try it without a stretcher is doomed to failure, (actually made my own from 3 x 2 and nails:rotfl:)

Most shop supplied fitters are self employed, you will probably get it done cheaper if you can go the direct route;)

smashingyour...

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I have to 2nd all the above, although I would do it myself.

Only reason for that is that I have the time, am a super tight !!!, and would seriously class my self in the expert DIY grade in terms of ability.

Take a look at the callouses on any aged carpet fitter, the hands are horrendous and as said the knees have gone . On 2nd thoughts, now I'm older I wouldn't do it.

To try it without a stretcher is doomed to failure, (actually made my own from 3 x 2 and nails:rotfl:)

Most shop supplied fitters are self employed, you will probably get it done cheaper if you can go the direct route;)

And modest too.

Thea

Wow, thanks guys for the replies, I think the resounding answer is No!

I didn't even think of looking for an independent fitter. I'm quite the DIYer but alias Youtube has be believing I can do anything lol

I have looked online for the underlay and gripper rods, so much cheaper, I think I will do this myself and get the experts in.

spacey2012

Carpet and flooring fitters are 50 a penny, most have no work at all, you wont have any problems hiring one, most will work for less than minimum wage.