Fitting a Carpet Offcut

1. If you're buying new, prepare the floor in the same way as for sheet vinyl . If you don't prepare with hardboard, make sure you hammer down any protruding nails and staples in floorboards.
2. There is only one proper way to secure carpet edges. This is to nail gripper strips (lengths of thin plywood batten with angled metal spikes on the upper face) around the edge of the room, about 6 mm (1/4 in) away from the bottom edge of the skirting board so that the carpet can be pushed into the gap to form a neat edge.
3. If you're fitting a separate underlay , do this now.
4. Align the edge of the carpet with one wall of the room and roll out the carpet. Use a knee kicker (which can be hired) to stretch the carpet between this wall and the opposite wall, and push the carpet on to the gripper strip spikes or fold it over.
5. Smooth the carpet from the centre outwards, fixing it along the remaining walls. Use a bolster chisel to push the carpet into the gap between the skirting and the gripper strips.
6. Join sections of carpet with double-sided carpet-tape. Fix the tape to the floor directly beneath the joint and press the edge of each section of carpet on to it.
7. Trim off excess carpet with a craft knife held at 45° to the wall. If possible, tuck the cut edge under the skirting board with the bolster chisel.
8. Cut the carpet to fit around the door frames, and screw threshold bars across the doorways for a neat finish.