Author Topic: Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?  (Read 9380 times)

jeromedawg

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Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?
« on: November 04, 2017, 12:33:23 AM »
I'm wondering if I should just DIY this. It's $35 for a 6x9' roll of 1/2 padding at my local Lowes and one roll should cover the area I need that was removed (I think).

What kind of adhesive should I use to secure the padding to the ground (it's cement subflooring)? Do I really need to go buy carpet pad specific adhesive?

As far as stretching/retacking, I just saw a Youtube vid of a guy who demonstrated jumping towards the wall where you want retack the carpet as an alternative to a knee kicker if you don't have one or want to go out and buy one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5VrEH2X8LI). Actually, looking at it again the carpet seems like it hasn't really 'shrunk' back or anything. This is pretty old carpet (at least 10 years old) but it's in pretty good shape still so no reason to rip it all out... just want to restore. Could I just slip the carpet pad under (with glue?), duct tape the joint/seam to the existing carpet pad, lay the carpet back over and simply press it back into the tack strip?

Should the baseboard be installed before fixing the carpet or after? Does it matter? I don't have a nail gun so I'd probably have a contractor come in to do that in addition to the other repairs we need to do that I don't think I could take on (hanging drywall up to 8ft high and rehanging salvaged cabinets)... EDIT: my wife said this last handyman that came out recommended doing the carpeting first then installing the baseboard.

The carpeting seems relatively easy though compared to the other stuff.

« Last Edit: November 04, 2017, 01:01:49 AM by jeromedawg »

EarthSurfer

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Re: Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2017, 03:18:14 AM »
Have you pulled back a corner and are certain the pad is missing. Usually, the pad fails or disintegrates in high traffic areas if the carpet is not regularly cleaned. The dirt falls through the backing and acts as an abrasive to break down the pad.

I did a carpet pad replacement in the bedroom in my condo earlier this year. It took longer to move the furniture out of the room than to replace the pad.

If you are only replacing a 6x9 foot area with no seams, I would likely just replace the carpet and pad if I could find a usable pattern on roll at Lowes or Home Depot or a remnant at a dealer.

In either event, be prepared to vacuum up a lot of dirt and possible degraded carpet pad.

I have never seen carpet pad attached with an adhesive to the subfloor, but I have only pulled carpet and padding on concrete and chip-crete surfaces. Seams in the padding are taped with a special longer life pad tape, but I have seen packing tape used in a pinch.

I have used a cheap knee kicker (about $20 after discount coupon at Harbor Freight), a carpet knife, and a 4" heavy duty putty knife to remove and reattach the carpet to the existing tact strip. I used the knee tool to get slack in the carpet to allow lifting of the backing from the tack strip rather than "ripping it up" and tearing the backing at the edges.

I did need to trim about 1/2 inch on a 12 foot span when I reinstalled the carpet. I didn't pull the baseboards, and was able to neatly tuck the carpet under the existing baseboard using the putty knife.

jeromedawg

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Re: Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2017, 10:24:37 AM »
Have you pulled back a corner and are certain the pad is missing. Usually, the pad fails or disintegrates in high traffic areas if the carpet is not regularly cleaned. The dirt falls through the backing and acts as an abrasive to break down the pad.

I did a carpet pad replacement in the bedroom in my condo earlier this year. It took longer to move the furniture out of the room than to replace the pad.

If you are only replacing a 6x9 foot area with no seams, I would likely just replace the carpet and pad if I could find a usable pattern on roll at Lowes or Home Depot or a remnant at a dealer.

In either event, be prepared to vacuum up a lot of dirt and possible degraded carpet pad.

I have never seen carpet pad attached with an adhesive to the subfloor, but I have only pulled carpet and padding on concrete and chip-crete surfaces. Seams in the padding are taped with a special longer life pad tape, but I have seen packing tape used in a pinch.

I have used a cheap knee kicker (about $20 after discount coupon at Harbor Freight), a carpet knife, and a 4" heavy duty putty knife to remove and reattach the carpet to the existing tact strip. I used the knee tool to get slack in the carpet to allow lifting of the backing from the tack strip rather than "ripping it up" and tearing the backing at the edges.

I did need to trim about 1/2 inch on a 12 foot span when I reinstalled the carpet. I didn't pull the baseboards, and was able to neatly tuck the carpet under the existing baseboard using the putty knife.

Doh, sorry I wasn't clear when I put "(I think)" - I know the carpet padding was definitely removed because we had water damage and the remediation guy removed it. It was the 6x9 roll being sufficient to cover the area that I meant it in the context of "(I think)" it would do.

In any case, he cut away triangular portions of the carpet and furniture in our bedroom has been moved out of place since the padding was removed. So really all we need to do is just pull the carpet back and drop in the padding. It looks like from that point I could probably just press the edges of the carpet back into the tack-strip. Of course, this may all change once the padding is down - it could very well be that because of the padding being in place, the carpet actually does need to be stretched back into place. I guess I'll just go for it and see what comes of it.

jeromedawg

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Re: Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2017, 08:00:58 PM »
So I ended up buying a 6x9 roll at Lowes. It says it's 6lb density which I thought was 1/2" but I think it's 3/8" - for whatever reason I thought my padding was 1/2" but it actually is 3/8" at least in the living room lol. So I guess it worked out? I just pulled back the carpet to expose the subfloor and unrolled over the portion of padding that had been cut out, then took a utility knife and cut, checking as I went. Then I used some of the scrap foam that came loose to fill in any major gaps in the seam and ran a line of duct tape over. Pretty straightforward, and the results seem pretty good. You can kinda tell where the seam is in one spot of our bedroom but it's near the wall by the dresser and we normally don't walk around there anyway. As far as stretching, I don't think it needs to happen. And I just ran my hand/arm along the tack-strip to tack the carpet back down. I haven't had baseboards installed but I figure they can be pretty easily installed *after* at this point. I think I may just end up buying matching baseboard and DIYing it. All I need is a nail gun.

lthenderson

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Re: Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2017, 07:42:59 AM »
I've never seen carpet padding that has been glued down to the subfloor either.

I've rented a knee kick from my local rental center for around $10/day. It also came with a ratcheting carpet stretcher as well.

I prefer to put baseboard on after carpet has been installed. Carpet backing is pretty abrasive and can scratch up your baseboard requiring some touch up painting which I prefer not to do over freshly laid carpet. However, carpet is easily installed under baseboard so I wouldn't remove the baseboard to install the carpet and only to reinstall it.

jeromedawg

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Re: Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?
« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2017, 09:59:54 AM »
I've never seen carpet padding that has been glued down to the subfloor either.

I've rented a knee kick from my local rental center for around $10/day. It also came with a ratcheting carpet stretcher as well.

I prefer to put baseboard on after carpet has been installed. Carpet backing is pretty abrasive and can scratch up your baseboard requiring some touch up painting which I prefer not to do over freshly laid carpet. However, carpet is easily installed under baseboard so I wouldn't remove the baseboard to install the carpet and only to reinstall it.

That makes sense. I'm really wanting to take on the baseboard myself at this point. If I don't have a miter saw or miter box, what would be best to use for making the angled cuts on the baseboard btw? I guess at a minimum, it might be worth going out and just buying a miter box...

So basically, when you install the baseboard, do you just pull the tacked carpeting back a little for clearance and slide the baseboard in? Then tuck in the edges of the carpet again? I'm probably going to get primed baseboard btw. Also any other tips on installing longer lengths of baseboard? The longest strips are about 10-11ft long or so.

BTW: it looks like the carpet is 'butted' up against the baseboard and not tucked under it AFAIK.

Here are some pics of the carpet, tacked down, without the baseboard in place (first pic that's a piece of scrap baseboard leftover from a previous job - am just doing a dry-fit there to see how it should be expected to look):


« Last Edit: November 06, 2017, 10:11:05 AM by jeromedawg »

lthenderson

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Re: Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2017, 10:41:58 AM »
The tack strips are usually gapped from the walls so my steps with baseboard in place are stretching the carpet, pounding onto the tack strip, cutting a little long, folding the carpet edge and tucking it under the baseboard. If the baseboard is already removed, I would stretch and pound the carpet onto the tack strip, cut to the edge of the wall and then apply the baseboard on top of the carpet. Generally if the baseboard is between your carpet and the wall, it means that someone installed it before the carpet or there was a previous thinner flooring installed like linoleum and whoever install the carpet was too lazy to remove the baseboard. When installed that way, the carpet dips down next to the baseboard and collects all sorts of things that are difficult to get out of the groove. I also don't think it looks as clean as installing the baseboard over the top of the carpet to cover up the rough edge. It goes without saying that it is much easier to paint baseboard sitting on top of carpet than pinched between it and the wall.

jeromedawg

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Re: Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2017, 11:46:09 AM »
The tack strips are usually gapped from the walls so my steps with baseboard in place are stretching the carpet, pounding onto the tack strip, cutting a little long, folding the carpet edge and tucking it under the baseboard. If the baseboard is already removed, I would stretch and pound the carpet onto the tack strip, cut to the edge of the wall and then apply the baseboard on top of the carpet. Generally if the baseboard is between your carpet and the wall, it means that someone installed it before the carpet or there was a previous thinner flooring installed like linoleum and whoever install the carpet was too lazy to remove the baseboard. When installed that way, the carpet dips down next to the baseboard and collects all sorts of things that are difficult to get out of the groove. I also don't think it looks as clean as installing the baseboard over the top of the carpet to cover up the rough edge. It goes without saying that it is much easier to paint baseboard sitting on top of carpet than pinched between it and the wall.

Thanks! So your recommendation is to stretch the carpet so that it butts up against the wall, trimming where necessary, and then installing the baseboard over? In this case, do you push the baseboard down over the butt-end of the carpet so it's slightly depressed? Or do you keep it directly flush (no pressure) on top of the carpet?

lthenderson

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Re: Replace carpet padding, stretch and retack?
« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2017, 12:46:44 PM »
I usually aim for somewhere in between. The fibers of the carpet will reach past the bottom of the baseboard trim but I'm not pushing it hard down against the carpet.