Carpet Not Nailed Down

Carpet tack strips can usually remain in place but look for rust rot or other damage.

Carpet not nailed down.

Tack strips are sometimes called tackless strips because they eliminate the need for using individual carpet tacks to hold carpeting to the floor. 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. Not suitable for heavy rolling traffic or extensive light duty rolling traffic. The carpet is laid loosely over 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. An installer will cut the carpet to fit a room exactly but the carpet is not attached to the floor. If you are pulling up carpet from stairs. Grab the cut end of carpet and pull it from the stairs using gloved hands.

Pry up the metal nosing and remove it if present. 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. Cut to fit carpet installation a cut to fit carpet installation is not a bona fide installation. Cut the carpet padding to place on the tack strips.

Begin at the top of the stairs. If not cut the carpet near the top of the top stair riser. 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. Carpet works wonders on stairs like this.

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