Carpet Installation - Adding borders to the perimeter of a Room

Adding a border color to the outside perimeter of a room
can really add a touch of class. Experienced carpet
installers are generally familiar with the steps involved.
It's fairly straight forward. You may be new to rug
fabrication, if so, then here are two quick and concise
step by step techniques that are guaranteed to get the job
done.

In this case we'll imagine that you are installing new
carpet in a 12' x 12' room, you are also going to add a
complimentary 12" border around the perimeter.

Beginners technique - keep reading for a more advanced
technique.

Step 1. Precut your borders, 4 @ 12' x 12" in., prep and
clean floor. Install tackless strips and padding.

Step 2. Drop your carpet, install & powerstretch.

Step 3. Measure from the wall 12" - cut through & mark on
each end of the carpet. Mark the backside.

Step 4. Flip back the carpet, just enough to cut the 12"
strip & remove with your straight edge.

Step 5. Repeat on wall #2.

Step 6. Put your borders in place on walls 1 & 2.

Step 7. Using a seaming iron, seam borders to the main
carpet, wait a few minutes.

Step 8. Use a kneekicker to re-install the carpet on walls
1 & 2.

Step 9. Repeat these steps for walls 3 & 4.

While there is some wasted carpet involved with this
technique, it's still the easiest & fool proof way to get
the job done.

Advanced Technique-

Step 1. Precut your borders, 4 @ 13" x 12', prep and clean
floor. Install tackless strips and padding

Step 2. Cut field carpet to size - 10' x 10'. Place field
piece into center of room.

Step 4. Layout your borders and seam to the field piece
with a seaming iron, wait a few minutes before installing.

Step 5. Install with a power-stretcher. Be careful, gently
stretch the carpet until you have 1" excess to trim.

This approach requires more precision during the
installation. The benefits are that you have no wasted
carpet. The overall Install can be faster as well.

Quick Tips-

Tip #1-

Some rooms may have several 'jogs' or 'legs' that interfere
with your nice straight borders. For example: a doorway, or
sliding door, or connection to another room can force your
border 'out or in' a couple of inches or more. Make it easy
on yourself. Don't bother making adjustments that small.
Imagine the field piece within the room to be as straight
as possible. Your borders will then vary slightly in widths
as they absorb the 'jogs'. It looks better too!

Tip #2 -

Pre-fabricate and bevel multiple borders before installing.
It's always easier to produce these custom rugs in your
workshop prior to going 'on-site'. Do as much
pre-fabricating as possible. If you are comfortable
pre-fabricating the whole project and the rooms are not too
large, then doing so can save you time and increase your
profits. Go for it.

----------------------------------------------------
Russell Webb, your friendly expert Custom Carpet Maker. If
you're ready to launch your own creative and exciting home
based business as a custom rug fabricator, and have fun
doing it, subscribe to my FREE 4 part minicourse at
http://www.erugmakers.com