Carpet a Stairway

Stair carpeting takes a lot more abuse than room carpeting, and it often wears out much sooner. Replacing a worn stair runner or carpeting a bare stairway is no problem when you know the technique.

Tools: pliers, vacuum cleaner, measuring tape or rule, chalk or pencil, work gloves, small handsaw, hammer, heavy scissors, 3/4-inch-thick piece of scrap wood, staple gun, utility knife with sharp heavy-duty blades, awl, tack hammer, stair wedging tool or broad-bladed chisel; knee kicker, available on rental from most carpet dealers. Materials; tackless carpet fastening strips, heavy rubber or felt stair carpet padding, paper, heavy-duty staples, carpet runner.
Time: about 3 to 4 hours for a short straight stairway, longer for long or winding stairways.

First remove old carpeting from the stairs. Use pliers to pull up any carpet tacks left in the wood, being careful not to splinter it. Vacuum the stairway thoroughly.

Measure the stairs carefully for the new carpet. On straight stairs, stretch a measuring tape or rule around one entire stair, starting at the inside edge of the tread and moving over the outside of the tread and down along the riser below it to the top of the next tread. Add 1 inch and multiply by the number of steps, not counting the last riser to the top landing. Measure any landings and add these measurements to the tread figure; add 1 inch to be turned in at the ends. Divide the total by 36 to determine the number of yards of carpet runner you need. You’ll need roughly the same length of padding; the exact length used will be less because the padding doesn’t cover the stair risers completely.

To measure for carpeting on a winding stairway, first measure straight stairs and landings as above. Then measure each wedge-shaped or turning step at the widest point the carpet will cover, and add 1 inch. Measure each wedge-shaped step separately. To determine the number of yards of carpet runner and padding you need, add all the stair measurements together; add 1 inch for top and bottom edges and divide by 36.

Carpet runner is sold in standard 27-inch and 36-inch widths; buy the width that best fits your stairway. Don’t try to use carpeting left over from a room installation-cut-to-fit carpet pieces have to be turned under at the edges all along the stairs, and that’s tricky. Buy 6 inches or so more than you think you need, just to be safe.

Choose a high-quality heavy rubber or felt stair carpet padding; it doesn’t pay to economize here. Ask the carpet dealer to figure the amount of padding and the number of tackless fastening strips you’ll need-the strips will have to cover roughly twice the width of the stairway for each step.
Finally, rent a knee kicker from the carpet dealer. The kicker is used to stretch the carpeting tightly onto the fastening strips at each riser-tread inter section, producing a more stable runner than hand stretching techniques.