5. After removing all the furniture and old floor covering from the room, cover the wood subfloor with carpet padding. Tack strips are strips of wood with sharp pointed tacks. There are two main types of glue down carpet installation. The carpet tacks in tackless strips are needle-sharp and can easily cut you. While carpet and underlayment will be able to hide some flaws in the concrete, sagging or bumby areas may show through. Without tack strips, the carpet will move around. Some we carry and out in the industry are only for wood; so be sure the ones you have are rated for concrete floors. Note: Tack strips are sometimes called tackless strips, because they eliminate the need for using individual carpet tacks … In commercial construction where all floors are usually concrete the carpet guys typically spread glue over the entire floor to install carpet made to be glued down. To cut you can use a small trim saw, a tin snips, but the easiest is a gardener's pruning shear or small lopper (only cut on the wood).

Patch the concrete subfloor as required. I have also seen epoxy used to secure perimeter tack-strips. So yes your … The first thing that you install is a wooden tack strip, which runs around the perimeter of the room.

This will prepare the floor for successful carpet installation. Since it's a floating floor that butts up to concrete block, the strips are 3/4" from the edge. I don't use padding or tack strips when doing basement carpet. Air out the Carpet before Installation.
Considered one of the cheapest carpet tacks available, the regular carpet tack is 7/8 inches wide. However, we highly recommend removing existing flooring.

Be careful, though: one common mistake among novice installers is that they don’t pay attention to the type of adhesive they use and end up destroying their hard work. It really depends on the condition of the concrete as to weather glued down tackless will hold. Tips If you cannot drive the nails into concrete, you may have success using epoxy adhesive instead.
Unless you want nail holes, and adhesive on the wood floor… I just let it lie. A professional would have used tack strips.

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. Installers also use adhesive spread all over to help keep the carpet from moving as well. To prevent this, chip away bumbs using a hammer and chisel. Best Answer: In commercial construction where all floors are usually concrete the carpet guys typically spread glue over the entire floor to install carpet made to be glued down. In some cases, you can also install carpet tiles over existing wood, tile or vinyl flooring so long as the existing flooring is no more than an inch thick. However, that would be harder to remove from the floor when you decide to change the carpet (it's very very strong). The next step is to clean the concrete floor. I'm doing it myself, so waiting 24 hours to install the carpet is no problem. JPfloor, May 17, 2016 Glue Considerations. Carpet is less durable without pad.

As long as yours lays flat you may be okay. Carpet can be directly glued to the floor, or carpet can be glued to a pad that is itself glued to the floor. Using a hammer, nail down tack strips around the perimeter of the room. If there are any bumps or areas that don't lay flat after a week I'll use a … Tack down the padding with a stapler. Glue Down Carpet Installation. Installers gluing carpet directly to a concrete floor. I'm doing it myself, so waiting 24 hours to install the carpet is no problem. Most concrete floors are not completely level and this allows the strip to sit flat on the concrete. Installers gluing carpet directly to a concrete floor. Tack strips are used, so the carpet can be stretched taught to minimize bunching, and or trip hazards. Carpet tiles can adhere to concrete, plywood or particleboard subfloors. The small points sticking up out of the wooden tack strip grab the carpet and hold it down once it’s stretched over the tack strip. Cut the 1-inch-wide strips to length using a small handsaw or special wood snips.

Carpet can be directly glued to the floor, or carpet can be glued to a pad that is itself glued to the floor. Using a hammer, nail down tack strips around the perimeter of the room. Pad acts like a shock absorber and can greatly increase the life of a carpet. Clean the Concrete Floor. It’s nailed to the subfloor with its points angled toward the wall. Visit the post for more. 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. Generally made from plywood, regular carpet tacks are useful for installing carpet in both residential and commercial properties, Regular tacks are generally chosen for their low cost but do not have the additional staying power of some of the larger strips available. One thing I wanted to add to the information that Adam444 already gave is that you will also need to make sure the tack strips you have are rated for concrete.