How To: Lay Down Carpet Tiles

Laying down carpet tiles might be off-putting - the fear that you might get it wrong always lingering; but in reality it's a simple process, which if you've got the right tools, is easy as anything.

Tools You Need
From the most obvious items, to the least:

• Carpet Tiles
• Adhesive
• Draper Measuring Tape
• Line
• Chalk
• Profile Gauge
• Pencil
• Steel Ruler
• Glue
• Shaping Blade
• Double-sided Carpet Tape
  
  

Safety First!

Before you start anything, make sure you've considered your safety. As you can see above, there's cutting tools involved, so improper use can lead to injury. Whether you're a professional or an amateur, you should always take extreme care. Cut away from yourself, and always use a new sharp blade, not something blunt - also make sure to cut from the reverse of the floor tile, cutting from the front will lead to damage.

Step 1: Starting Out
Before you start, double check you've got everything you need - and perhaps even add an old towel to the list, in order to scrub out any marks along the way. It'll save you time, rather than going back and doing it afterwards.

Make sure the floor is totally dry, and completely clean of any grease or dirt. Make sure the floor is level, too, you'll need to resurface the floor if not, as the carpet tiles won't hold properly on an uneven surface.

It's also an idea to work out how many tiles you're going to need for the job. Preferably you'd do this before you ordered the tiles, of course! You can buy vinyl tiles online or carpet tiles from a huge selection of flooring retailers across the UK. Simply multiply the room's length by the width to get the room's area. Then divide the room's area, by the size of one tile's area, to find how many individual floor tiles are required.

Step 2: Laying Down Your Tiles
Here you need to make sure you're laying down your tiles correctly, so that any patterns on the tiles line up with one another, to create a seamless pattern across the floor, rather than something which comes and goes.

Every tile has an arrow on, indicating which direction the tile needs to be placed in. Start from the middle of the room, so that any odd lengths of tiles can be cut at the wall, rather than looking messy in the middle of the room.

To find the exact middle of the room, use chalk and line to mark the middle of each wall length, then cross reference these points in order to find the middle of the room.

Before you start properly, arrange your tiles how you plan to stick them down, to ensure you like the pattern, and the overall look of the style. Once you're happy, we're good to go!

Step 3: Fixing Down Your Floor Tiles
Most floor tiles now have their own adhesive backing which can be peeled off, allowing you to stick the floor tile down immediately. If this is the case, you're in luck, and you can freely place your tiles down on the floor, ensuring you pay attention to the arrows on the tiles to determine which direction they should be placed.

Alternatively, others might need to be glued into place, either with glue placed onto the tile, or onto the floor, in order for the bond to be made. Check the manufacturer's guidelines which came with your tiles if this is the case.

After you place each floor tile, make sure the surface is both even and level.


Step 4: Finishing
Once you get to the outskirts of the room, you might find that the floor tiles won't fit against the wall - therefore you'll need to cut away from the tiles to ensure they fit, by cutting the tiles from the back, on a cutting board or solid area. You can then cut away any frayed pile using scissors to finish the job!

Advice For Buying Carpet Online

Buying a carpet online

Unlike most things, carpet is very different when buying online. It's not like a "normal" product, where you can simply add it to your basket, proceed through the checkout, and sit and wait for the delivery man.

Instead, you've got a sometimes painfully long process to decide on which carpet style, which carpet brand, and not to mention the colour. This article aims to make the whole process a bit easier and less stressful by laying things out into a simple step by step guide.

So, while the idea to buy carpet online might appear an extremely daunting prospect right now, we'll aim to set things straight by the time we're done!

First Things First 

The size of the room.

Probably the most important but often overlooked part of buying a carpet, is the most obvious one. Where is the carpet going?

How large the carpet needs to be will immediately tell you how much you have to spend. Carpet is priced depending on the area, and therefore amount of carpet used. So if you have a budget of £1000, that will get you a lot further for a small room than it will do for a larger room. Sounds obvious, but the amount of people who walk into a carpet shop, only to have no idea of their budget, significantly outweighs those who do.

You only need a rough idea; Most carpet retailers have their own fitters who will come and measure the room accurately for you - but a rough idea is better than nothing. If you can get a perfect measurement, then great.

The Carpet Itself 

Next up; The choice of carpet.

Secondly is the choice of the actual carpet. With a huge range of carpet styles, brands and colours available, it's important to get this right, to ensure the carpet looks appropriate for the room it's intended.

Once you've got an idea of the carpet size required, you can choose any online carpet store, or walk into a carpet retailer, and determine which sort of carpet you're after. From there, don't be shy, ask for a carpet sample. With that, you can take a few colour and style choices back home, and compare with how you imagine it will look once on the floor.

For your carpet, quality is essential. Bear in mind that you'll be walking on this carpet for every day for however many years you plan on staying in your current home. Therefore if you buy an especially cheap carpet, expect it to wear out quickly and need to be replaced much more often than a more expensive carpet. So, if you can afford it, it will save you money in the long term to buy a better quality carpet which won't wear out, and it'll feel better under your feet!

Making your Order 

Whether Online or In-store, the process is the same.

Whether you use an online carpet store, or you visit a carpet retailer in person, the process of ordering your carpet remains the same.

You can either buy the carpet straight from the retailer, and then fit the carpet yourself or hire someone to do it for you; but most carpet retailers provide their own carpet fitters, sometimes as part of the price. It's a good idea to check if carpet fitting is included in the price when you first make the purchase.

Once that decision is sorted, simply set a date for carpet fitting, and away you go. It's also an idea to make sure you or someone else is available on the day of the carpet fitting, for any furniture or upholstery which might need to be lifted and moved in order for the fitting to take place.