Install Carpet Without Tack Strips

To install carpet start by nailing the tack strips to the floor using 2 nails for each strip.

Install carpet without tack strips.

Leave a inch between the back of the tack strip and the walls and inch between the back of the tack strip and the entry way of the room where the carpet will stop and a threshold or strip of plastic or metal will be placed. Position the strips with the tack points facing the wall. They are attached to the subfloor around the perimeter of the room to provide the anchor point for the edges of the carpeting to be gripped. In this installation strips of wood called tackless strip are nailed or sometimes glued to the floor around the edges of the room.

Stretch in carpet installation is the most popular installation methods in homes. Padding is secured to the floor in the middle of the room. These strips have hundreds of nails that are angled in towards the wall. Another alternative is to carpet each stair individually where the foot lands.

Prepare your stairs for carpet installation by installing tack strips thin pieces of wood resembling yardsticks with tacks pointing upward. Install tack strips around door frames but not across the threshold to prevent stepping on the sharp points. I was installing new carpet at our old house and many of the nails on the tack strip came off because the concrete chipped away over the years and it left some dents or holes on the floor. Tack strips are strips of wood with sharp pointed tacks.

Without nailing in tack strips i would glue down in order to prevent wrinkles. These will grip the carpet backing and hold it in place. Install tack strips with a gap between the wall. Keep a space equal to about two thirds the thickness of the carpet between the walls and the tack strips using a scrap piece of carpet as a guide.

For novice diyers the temptation is to shove the carpet tack strips sometimes called tackless. A small amount of glue at the top and base of each stair can keep it in place. Install carpet without tack strips small tension rods attached at the base of each stair can be placed to tighten carpet that runs the entire length of the stairs.