Install Carpet Without Tack Strips

Install the tackless strips along the edges of the area you are carpeting.

Install carpet without tack strips.

Install tack strips around door frames but not across the threshold to prevent stepping on the sharp points. These strips have hundreds of nails that are angled in towards the wall. Without nailing in tack strips i would glue down in order to prevent wrinkles. Install tack strips with a gap between the wall.

To install carpet start by nailing the tack strips to the floor using 2 nails for each strip. Tack strips are strips of wood with sharp pointed tacks. A small amount of glue at the top and base of each stair can keep it in place. 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.

These will grip the carpet backing and hold it in place. Stretch in carpet installation is the most popular installation methods in homes. For novice diyers the temptation is to shove the carpet tack strips sometimes called tackless. I was installing new carpet at our old house and many of the nails on the tack strip came off because the concrete chipped away over the years and it left some dents or holes on the floor.

In this installation strips of wood called tackless strip are nailed or sometimes glued to the floor around the edges of the room. Leave a inch between the back of the tack strip and the walls and inch between the back of the tack strip and the entry way of the room where the carpet will stop and a threshold or strip of plastic or metal will be placed. This shows the proper tack strip placement to get long lasting and beautiful results out of your carpet install. Install carpet without tack strips small tension rods attached at the base of each stair can be placed to tighten carpet that runs the entire length of the stairs.

Padding is secured to the floor in the middle of the room. Prepare your stairs for carpet installation by installing tack strips thin pieces of wood resembling yardsticks with tacks pointing upward. Another alternative is to carpet each stair individually where the foot lands.