Fitting Underlay yourself

DMDz

Rather than pay allied carpets £8.99 for their best underlay I’ve found a source online (eBay buy it now) for half the price including delivery.

How easy is it to fit underlay? Any hints/tips? What do I need? Just a staple gun/Stanley knife?

Thanks

cozzie

I am just a weak/feable woman and I have lay all of my carpets, underlay and lino/tiles in my house, (couldn't be bothered waiting for OH to do it).

I find the best and easiest underlay is the silverback stuff, (silver side down), which can be butted together and help in place with duct tape, (seamless finish). For cutting you will need a Stanley and a few blades as they can get blunted quite easily.

You should also keep the underlay about 1-2cms away from the walls so that you have somewhere to fix carpet to, besides, if you were to tack through both carpet and underlay then you would get dimples which looks really naff.

Patience and time is the best advice I can give, especially with carpet.

Easy peasy, lemon squeazy.

Good luck and make sure you treat yourself with the money you have saved because you have earnt it.

DMDz

Hi Cozzie, thanks for the reply.

I’ve got some of the silver back stuff which I pulled from my new house with the intensions of re-using it in a rental property. The person who fitted the silverback underlay used a staple gun so Ive got little holes in it, although with a good carpet ontop I don’t think this is a problem. I did however assume this was the method used?

Don’t I need to secure the underlay to the floor? Wont it slide about or will the weight of the carpet keep it secure? Which side do you put the duct tape on?

I’ll be buying the more thicker rubber underlay (the non-silverback gooey stuff) for the other rooms. I’d love to fit all the carpets myself (Id save a fortune) but really am not brave enough – 1 wrong cut and I waste a lot of carpet. The underlay I’ll happily attempt though as the mistakes are easy to correct and not visible when the carpets laid down.

tru

The gripper should be about 1cm from the wall. Lay the underlay rubber side down. Make sure you lay it right up to the edge of the gripper. Tape it together once you've laid it. Easy peasy lemon squeezy

robd831

Having laid carpet before, it is a good idea to rent a carpet kicker or claw so that you are able to strech the capet to get it to fit correctly.It gets rid of all the bumps. Should cost about £10 a day from the hire shop but is well worth it.

cozzie

I put the duct tape on the top, (white side) and the carpet will hold it down no probs.

Do have a try at doing carpet yourself, it really isn't that hard so long as you are patient and careful. Start in the smallest room so that if things do go wrong then you haven't wasted too much and not bathroom/toilet as cutting around basins really is a nightmare. Cut generously, and then trim to size in small slithers and if you turn the carpet back over at the edges to cut it make sure you have a piece of board between the piece that you are cutting and the floor.