Letting fitters into your home and pulling up your old floor can feel like a big upheaval, especially if you have never had it done before. Most people picture mess, dust and a house turned upside down for a day. The honest truth is that a carpet fitting day is far more organised than it looks while it is happening, and a good fitter leaves your home clean and finished at the end.
Here is exactly what happens on the day, what you need to do, and what you can happily leave to us. The photo above is a real Bedford job caught halfway through, supervised, as you can see, by the resident dog.
Book a free home visit online in 60 seconds and we will talk you through the whole process.
Before we arrive
We ask you to clear small and breakable items, so lamps, ornaments and anything off the floor and low surfaces in the room. The heavy furniture we move ourselves. There is a little more to it than that, so we have a full guide on preparing your room for carpet fitting that is worth a quick read the night before.
Lifting the old carpet
This is the part that looks dramatic. We pull up your old carpet and underlay, which is where you get that mid-job mess you can see in the photo, all those bits of old foam and offcuts. It goes quickly, and we take the lot away with us. If you want to know how the old carpet is disposed of, we cover that in our uplift and disposal guide.
Prepping the floor
With the old floor up, we check the subfloor, deal with any squeaks or loose boards, and fit fresh gripper rods around the edges, the Lifestyle Premium Gripper you can spot on the bottom step in the photo. New underlay goes down too. This is the unglamorous part that nobody sees, and it is exactly what makes your new carpet feel good underfoot and last for years.
Fitting the new carpet
Now the satisfying bit. We measure and cut the carpet, stretch it tight and flat with a knee kicker so there are no ripples, trim it neatly into every edge and doorway, and join any seams so you can barely see them. This is the craft, and it is the difference between a carpet that looks great for years and one that looks tired in eighteen months.
How long does it take?
Most rooms are done in a few hours, and a typical house over a day or so, depending on how many rooms there are and whether the stairs are involved. We go into the timings properly in our guide on how long carpet fitting takes.
What about pets and children on the day?
This is where our four-legged supervisor in the photo had the right idea, staying put on the finished step and out of the way. While we are working there are sharp tools about and gripper rods with pins along the edges, so it is best to keep pets and little ones out of the room being fitted until we are done. It keeps everyone safe and lets us get on quickly. If you have pets, it is also worth a look at our guide to the best carpet for pets when you are choosing.
We leave it clean
When the carpet is down, we hoover up, take away every scrap of old carpet, underlay and offcut, and tidy the room. You come back to a finished, clean space, not a building site. The mess in the middle is temporary. The lovely new floor is what you are left with.
The bottom line
Carpet fitting day is far less stressful than most people expect, and a good fitter does the worrying for you. If you are thinking about new carpet and want to know exactly how it would work in your home, we will come and talk you through it with no pressure. Book your free home visit online or call us on 01234 634516.
