How to Install Carpet on Concrete in One Day

Clear the room of all furniture and décor. Remove any doors from their hinges and store them safely in another location. If you have baseboards that your carpet won't fit underneath, remove them as well. Follow the steps above to prep your concrete surface for the carpet.

Install concrete tack strips around the room’s perimeter, cutting them with tin snips if needed. Position the strips about a half inch from the wall with the tacks angled toward the wall. Using liquid nail glue and galvanized concrete nails, hammer nails into the strips every 6 to 8 inches. Butt the strips against one another all around the room except in doorways.

Lay your vapor barrier over the concrete, overlapping adjacent edges for full coverage. If using a dimpled polyethylene pad, point the dimples down. Tape the seams to make one smooth surface.

Technically, you don’t have to have carpet padding, but it helps protect your carpet from wear and tear, adds insulation, and blocks sound. Lay carpet padding out from wall to wall and use a utility knife to cut it to size. Have the strips butt against each other and duct tape the seams between them. Your padding should lie completely flat with no bulges or bumps. With your floor fully covered, apply underlayment adhesive around the perimeter to hold the carpet padding in place.

Lay out your carpeting and use your utility knife to cut it from the back. It should roughly fit the room with about 6 inches of extra material left at each edge. Be sure to roll out each piece in the same direction for a consistent texture throughout the room.

Starting in a corner, put your carpet in place. Leave 3 to 4 inches of excess up against the wall, then completely cover the floor and tack strips. Line up edges of adjacent sections tightly and place seam tape, adhesive side up, under each. Use a seaming iron to melt the adhesive and join the sections, pressing them down as they cool, then sealing them with a carpet roller.

Starting in the far corner of the room and working along the wall, attach the carpeting to your tack strips with a knee kicker. To do this, place the kicker a few inches from the wall, then hit the flat, cushioned end with your knee to stretch the carpet tight and secure it to the tack strips. Move along the wall and hit the kicker once every foot.

Use your hands to stretch and pull the carpet from the first wall to the opposite wall and hook it onto the tack strip there. Like the first wall, use the knee kicker to pull the carpet into place. Then, stretch and secure the carpet along the remaining walls. Continue until the carpet is smooth and flat.

You can also use a power stretcher for this step, but they are costly to rent and unwieldy enough that inexperienced users risk damaging their carpeting. Only use one if you have prior experience.

With your carpet stretched and secured, you'll be left with excess around the edges. To cut the excess, use a metal straight edge and cut from the back with your utility knife until the remaining carpet fits tightly against the walls. Tuck the edges into the gap between the tack strips and the wall. You'll want the edges fully concealed when the baseboards are in place.

Attach your baseboards, trim, and doors. Cover the edge of your carpeting at any doorway with metal door jambs. Thoroughly vacuum the carpet after installation to remove stray carpet fibers and other debris.