Carpet Not Nailed Down

Grab the cut end of carpet and pull it from the stairs using gloved hands.

Carpet not nailed down.

For wall to wall carpeting carpet tack strips should be installed around the edges of the room leaving a space about the width. An installer will cut the carpet to fit a room exactly but the carpet is not attached to the floor. The carpet is laid loosely over the floor. If you are pulling up carpet from stairs.

Pry up the metal nosing and remove it if present. The first step before installing carpet tacks is to make sure the floor is clean. Carpet works wonders on stairs like this. It should be approximately 3 inches longer than the flat portion of your stair so it wraps under the lip of the stair and it must be 1 4 inch shorter than the size of your carpet runner so it adequately pads without sticking out on the edges.

Cut to fit carpet installation a cut to fit carpet installation is not a bona fide installation. Carpet tacks are strips of wood designed to hold a carpet in place so that you don t have to nail the carpet directly to the floor. If not cut the carpet near the top of the top stair riser. Carpet tack strips can usually remain in place but look for rust rot or other damage.

Cut the carpet padding to place on the tack strips. Tack strips are sometimes called tackless strips because they eliminate the need for using individual carpet tacks to hold carpeting to the floor. Beautiful hardwood stairs will be ruined by the addition of carpeting because the tack strips need to be nailed down creating holes in the wood. Nail the tack strips to the wooden subfloor or if installing carpet over concrete use masonry tacks or an epoxy adhesive attach the strips to the floor.

It is difficult to fix unattractive stairs because they do not lend themselves to painting.