Putting in new carpeting

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ponch37300
Posts: 622
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:12 pm
Location: wisconsin

The significant other decided we needed new carpeting in our room and the living room. Current carpet is the original from 2000. I've installed some carpet before but in stick built houses and never any big enough that it needed seaming.

So off to home depot we went, 18 months no interest. Bought enough carpet and padding, a carpet seaming iron and glue tape, tack strips, and everything else. I don't have a power stretcher, just a knee kicker but that should be alright in the 15x12 bedroom and the 17x15 living room.

My main question is triming around the walls since there are no baseboards. All the carpet work I have done I kick it to get it tight and trim it and tuck it under the baseboards. So what is the best way to do this when there is no baseboards in mobilehomes? I have one of these cutters, http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... =100196116. Can I just set it to trim along the wall leaving it 1/4" or so long and just tuck it down next to the wall?
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Greg
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A good sharp utility knife will let you cut right at the wall. Get extra blades, once they start getting dull it is hard to keep a clean cut.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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Greg S
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Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:13 am
Location: Kingston Ontario Canada

Cutting along the wall should be fine. Most carpet for living and bedroom will have some length of pile sufficient enough to hide any imperfections and fill against the wall. Worse case if you are not satisfied with the results you always have the option of adding base molding. Adding base molding will likely improve on the finish of the rooms as well.
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DCDiva
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Add some baseboards you wife will love them!
1987Commodore
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Location: Steuben County, NY

When ours was done, it was just pushed down between the tack strip and the wall. I vote for adding baseboards. I have done a couple rooms so far, as I have painted. Also I have trimmed out all the windows.
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JD
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Most carpet is installed without baseboards or floor trim of any kind, be it a mobile home or stick-built, the way Commodore describes. That is where they use that really thick putty knife looking tool called a carpet tucker or sometimes called a stair tool. The tack strip is installed about 1/4" from the wall and the cut edge of the carpet is tucked into this gap.
☯JD♫
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All information and advice given is for entertainment and informational purposes only. The person doing the work is solely responsible to insure that their work complies with their local building code and OSHA safety regulations.
ponch37300
Posts: 622
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:12 pm
Location: wisconsin

Thanks for all the replies. I finished up the bedroom and living room this weekend. Can't say it's one of the funnest things I've ever done! I bought a seaming iron and tried my hand at seaming the carpet. Turned out alright but not proffesional. I wouldn't say the seams are bad, just not as good as a pro carpet guy. As for the walls the roberts trimmer worked great. Set it to the right height and ust run it along the walls. The only issue was those batton strips that I had to carefully go around. We rented a power stretcher for the week which was a good decision. I have a knee kicker and thought maybe that would be enough but the power stretcher is really needed for rooms this size.

The other half is happy and I'm happy it's done! Was a long week with ripping out the master bedroom closet drywall and redoing that after some water damage and then doing all the floors. Now need to finish building the bathroom vanity I started long ago and some other little things that I have been meaning to do for a while but been putting off! But first have to power wash the house tonight while it's still halfway decent temp outside.
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