Guide · For the trade
Carpet installation process: what happens on install day, and how to get the site ready
The carpet installation process on the day is a fixed sequence: the installer confirms the room is empty, clean and dry, sets tackless strip at the walls, lays and seams the pad, cuts the carpet to the seam diagram, seams it with hot-melt tape or a hand-sewn seam, power-stretches it onto the strip, trims and tucks the edge, and vacuums before the walk-through. A typical bedroom takes 2 to 3 hours, a whole house with stairs 1 to 2 days, and the carpet needs 24 to 48 hours in the building at 65 to 95 degrees F before the first cut is made.
This guide is for the designer or the junior managing the install from the project side, so the installer arrives to a site that is ready and the client knows what to expect. It covers the order of trades, the site prep list, the day itself hour by hour, what the installer brings, what should still be on site afterward, and the questions clients ask. Measuring and ordering are covered in the measuring guide and the ordering broadloom guide; this one starts when the roll is on the truck.
Where carpet falls in the order of trades
Carpet goes in after paint and before the final clean. The sequence that avoids callbacks is drywall and texture, prime and paint (including the baseboard), hard flooring in adjoining rooms, cabinets and built-ins, then carpet, then the last coat on doors and the final touch-up. Baseboard goes on before carpet and sits with its bottom edge about 3/8 inch above the subfloor so the installer can tuck the carpet under it; if the base is set tight to the floor the installer has to run a quarter round or leave a visible cut edge. Interior doors are hung before carpet and are usually trimmed afterward, so the painter's last visit should be scheduled after the install, not before.
Carpet install prep: the checklist to send the client a week out
The installer's crew moves furniture on most residential jobs for a charge, but they do not move pianos, aquariums, waterbeds, pool tables, safes or anything on a wall, and they do not disconnect electronics. The list that goes to the client is short.
- Empty closets and remove everything from the floor of each room, including under beds and behind dressers.
- Take down anything that could fall when walls are bumped: framed art, mirrors, low shelves.
- Unplug and box the electronics; the installer will move the cabinet but not the components.
- Pull up and dispose of the old carpet and pad, or confirm the installer is doing it, because it is a separate line on the quote.
- Confirm the HVAC is running. The mills ask for 65 to 95 degrees F and 10 to 65 percent relative humidity, and a carpet installed in a cold, closed house in January will show stretch problems by June.
- Clear a path from the driveway to each room, and plan for the roll: a 12-foot roll is 12 feet long and does not turn a tight stair, so a second-floor install often comes in through a window or is cut in the garage.
The subfloor, and what the installer checks first
Before the strip goes down the installer walks the subfloor. Plywood and OSB should be nailed or screwed tight with no squeaks the client will blame on the carpet later; concrete should be dry, with no curling at the joints and no old adhesive ridges. If the slab is below grade or has a moisture history, specify a moisture barrier pad and tell the installer in writing. Transitions to tile and wood are set now: a flush metal, a Z-bar under a hardwood edge, or a tuck under the tile lip, so the designer should decide the transition detail before the day rather than on it.
What happens on carpet installation day
The sequence rarely changes, and knowing it lets you answer the client's "how long" without calling the installer.
| Step | What the crew does | Time in a 12 by 14 bedroom |
|---|---|---|
| Tackless strip | Nailed or glued 1/4 to 3/8 inch from the wall, pins toward the wall, around every edge except doorways with a transition | 20 minutes |
| Pad | Rolled out, stapled or glued at the seams and the strip, seams taped, trimmed inside the strip | 20 minutes |
| Cut and seam | Carpet cut to the seam diagram with pile running one direction, seams hot-melt taped and rolled, seam sealer on every cut edge | 30 to 60 minutes |
| Stretch | Power-stretched across both directions onto the strip, then kicked at the corners; a knee-kicker alone is not an installation | 30 minutes |
| Trim and tuck | Trimmed at the wall, tucked under the base, transitions set, doors checked for clearance | 20 minutes |
| Clean and walk | Vacuumed, remnants labeled, seams and edges walked with the client or the designer | 15 minutes |
Power stretching is the step to insist on. Carpet that is only kicked in will ripple within a year, and every mill warranty references the CRI 105 installation standard, which requires it. Ask the installer to stretch to the standard, and if a seam will land where it shows, ask to see the seam before the crew leaves.
What tools the installer brings, and what the designer does not
A professional crew arrives with a power stretcher, knee-kicker, seaming iron and tape, wall trimmer, stair tool, row cutter, seam sealer and a carpet tractor or roller. None of it belongs on the designer's list; the only tools the project side needs are the plan with the seam diagram marked, the sample for a color check against the roll, and a camera for the walk-through. The sample check matters: unroll the carpet in daylight, lay the approved sample on it, and confirm the dye lot before a single cut, because a cut roll cannot go back to the mill.
After the crew leaves
New carpet sheds loose fiber for the first few weeks; a vacuum with the beater bar set high handles it. The room should be ventilated for 48 to 72 hours, which is also the window the Green Label Plus emission tests assume. Keep every remnant larger than a square yard, labeled with the room, in the garage or a closet; a burn or a pet accident two years on is repaired from that remnant and the same dye lot, and nothing else matches. Furniture goes back the same day, with glides under heavy pieces to limit indentations in a cut pile.
How Interiors runs the install nationwide
The carpet ships from the mill to the installer in the client's city, not to the showroom, and our installer network covers the whole country. We confirm the delivery date with the installer, send the seam diagram and the pad spec with the material, and stay on the thread until the walk-through. If the client's own installer is receiving the material, we need that name and address at the time of order and the installer should see the seam diagram before the roll arrives.
Questions designers ask
How long does it take to lay carpet?
One room takes 2 to 3 hours including the pad; a three-bedroom upper floor is a full day; a 13-riser stair with a wrapped nosing is half a day on its own. A whole house with stairs, hall and four bedrooms is 2 days with a crew of two. Add half a day if the crew is pulling and hauling the old carpet.
What tools does a carpet installer need on the day?
A power stretcher, knee-kicker, seaming iron and hot-melt tape, seam sealer, wall trimmer, stair tool and a row cutter for loops and patterns. The crew brings all of it. What the designer brings is the plan, the approved sample and the pad spec.
Are clients still specifying carpet in bedrooms?
Yes, and more than the open-plan floors below them. A bedroom is where wool and soft cut piles are at their best: quiet, warm underfoot and out of the traffic. The bedroom carpet guide covers the constructions that hold up.
What drives the cost of carpeting a 2,000 square foot house?
The material, by the square yard, is most of it; then the pad, the labor by the yard with stairs priced per riser, furniture moving and old-carpet removal as separate lines, and the waste built into the seam diagram, which is 10 to 20 percent depending on the roll width and the room shapes. Net pricing on the material is quoted to approved trade accounts.
Can the install happen before painting is finished?
It can, but it should not. Carpet under a painter's ladder picks up drips and dust that do not come out of a cut pile, and the base needs to be painted before it is tucked. Schedule paint first and keep the final door trim and touch-up for after the install.
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