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DIY stair carpet job

AJB Temple

AJB Temple

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Mentioned briefly before. Job was put at top of my priority list by the wench. :censored:

We have some stairs in the middle of the house that lead to a titchy galleried landing. Originally carpeted with super dangerous slippery carpet that I fell down a few times. So carpet ripped up and the stairs were painted with mylands as temp job. Entire upstairs is solid oak boarding which I did a couple of years ago. I had planned to move the stairs and make them out of oak, but this was not allowed. Then I intended to re-clad them in oak board but the boards I bought for that were used for something else.

The stairs have an annoying wind, and they creaked like mad. All softwood, probably put in around 1980. No MDF etc but no access to the back either. We got a quote to fit nice stair carpet a while ago. Over £2k plus VAT plus rods & fitting rods plus painting the edges. £3k ish. Mad.

Did the job this week. Took me all of one day to re-inforce every step front and back with a lot of drilled countersunk screws and liquid glue run into every gap. Based on a YT vid. It worked very well.

By pure fluke I found a suitable stair runner on the bay for £40 so took a punt on that as I thought I would use it for a practice, as I new the curved steps would involve "making a wider carpet". Decided to do the whole thing for a shoestring if poss.

Took a solid day to fit the carpet, most of which was making and fitting the pieces on the wind. This involves a hot glue gun and plasterboard reinforcing tape to glue very carefully cut pieces together. The carpet has bound wool edges so there is a fair bit of waste.

Cost
Carpet runner 46 inc delivery
Underlay (treads only) 18
Tape 12 (didn't really need that)
Staples 12 (made a mistake with length so had to buy twice)
Glue gun cheapie from river shop 11 inc 2 bags of sticks
Rods 80 inc brackets and screws and 3 extra long rods for the wind (these were cheap end of line).
Excel narrow Staple gun 38 (brilliant too, well worth the money)
Paint 12
Carpet stretcher tool 25

Total spend £254


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For the money it as worked out OK. I was originally under the impression that star rods hold the carpet in place. They don't. Lots of staples do. It stops an inch from the floor (needs painting) as this floor gets mopped a lot. Just shows that DIY can save quite a lot of cash. I expect a pro would be much quicker and do a better job, but not worth an extra £2,500 ish.
 
Obviously it depends on how you value your time.

Now then. How much to carpet the 67 spiral steps (two intermediate landings) leading up to our tower?

I think my one will stay as bare stone for a while yet. Call it a design statement.

But well done, nonetheless. I hate laying carpet.
 
Good job and something I’ve been pestered to do for years. Where are the staples Adrian ? At a guess along the edge and up under each tread? A link to how the wind is done would be very useful. Also how did you finish the top where the runner meets the oak boards?
 
Adrian, and anybody else tackling this job, staples are NOT compulsory. My daughter's Edinburgh home has a stone staircase and when I temporarily removed it for renovations, it was held in place (under mild tension) simply by the rods. The turn in the stair was a marvel of folding, with the uncut surplus beautifully maintained behind the near-verical carpet on each turnstep riser. The extreme top was secured with a metal clip under the door saddle,but the very bottom was a turnup, secured by the last rod.
I think in wood, as Adrian has done, accentuating the roll over the step's edge, is a nice decorative feature and adds something to the overall appearance.
You works with what you has.
 
The staples are hidden in the pile down each side, close to the binding, under the bullnose and under the rods in the corners. In my opinion it is essential to have a proper narrow gauge staple gun capable of driving 20mm staples (not less) in hard. The gun (Excel) can fire up to 32mm staples and brads. It was a total bargain - half the price of identical elsewhere.

There are lots of vids on you tube, mostly from very nice ladies doing makeovers. Ignore them. Go to Keith Shannon's channel on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/@KeithShannonDirectCarpet

He has videos on straight carpets and the pie shaped bits and a tutorial on taking runner and maing a wider carpet from it. The pie bits are difficult because obviously the carpet has to be wider on both the tread and riser, so you need to follow his really excellent method for "making" it. You have to have enough spare runner to do that: on a three step wind it will be up to a couple of metres extra. This is what the glue gun and plastering mesh tape is for - essentially joins the backings permanently. The YT diy'ers and bodgers will tell you to use double sided tape. Don't.

Buy this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09FYWQ44L?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1. It's £8.99 and has lots of sticks. The advantage is a small nozzle and you can use it as precise edge sealer as well as tape sticker, and at that price it's virtually disposable. (Even though I dislike PRC I swallowed my pride). Total bargain. Buy now guys if you want a small precise glue gun.

At the top of ours, I was able to wrap around the bullnose and tuck under the oak floor as luckily I had foreseen this when I laid the floor. Looks very neat.

Keep an eye on ebay for runners. There are some real bargains occasionally. Also if on a tight budget, Dunelm.

Don't buy the tools - you can just borrow mine Andy as I trust you :ROFLMAO: The carpet stretcher thing is essential to get a professional looking outcome. I was surprised. It helps such a lot. A proper staple gun is essential. You can borrow both from me. You will also need a wide chisel. I used a brick bolster that is well used so blunt, and it was fine - you cab borrow that too if you don't have one. Mallet obvs to clout it.

Underlay does not need to be runner shaped. You can just get sheets on ebay and cut them to size. You only do the treads so you wont need much at all. No carpet grippers are needed.

Rods are optional. If you use the right staple gun carefully you wont see the staples and you can in any case drive them in harder with the chisel. You need to be a but brutal under the bullnose and at the back of the treads as Mr Shannon shows.

Honestly any of us who regularly post here can do this job. I have never laid any carpet before and even I (fussy) am pleased with this as it was stupidly cheap.

Ignore anyone who tells you to start at the top and work down (as many YT vids do). This is a really stupid idea if you want a pro job at the end. Pro job is of course essential for wifey approval. :cool:
 
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