Featured article

Laying carpet tiles

How to Lay Carpet Tiles

As a skilled carpet tile layer over many years, I've systemised the steps to a perfect carpet laying project.
Let'ss start with the surface to be covered.
It needs to be even and dry. If you have cracks or unevenness these need sorted out first.
Made-up screeds are needed to fill gaps and cracks and give you a smooth surface to work with. It’s best to choose a screed for the job you have in hand. So some will even out floor variations of 1 to 10 mm for example, most useful for concrete finishes. They are also very suitable for underfloor heating. But they do take some time to dry.
There are fast drying screeds that are ready in 2 hours. A quick check throughout our main web site will help you choose.

Carpet tiles have an arrow on the back indicating the direction they should be laid. For a chequerboard effect you would alternative the arrows, tile by tile.
On the other hand, if you want a plan broadloom effect then you would lay every tile arrow in the same direction.

Here are some guidelines to help you get started in the actual laying.

Mark the centre of the floor with a chalk line
Now lay tiles loosely form the centre to the walls so you have a large cross of loose tiles.
Now you can judge how much cutting will be needed along the wall and you can adjust your cross to makes this easiest. You don’t want to have to make narrow cuts along walls, so you would simply adjust and move your cross accordingly.
Also avoid having narrow cuts at doorways.

The main tip here is you never start by laying carpet tiles along 1 wall, because walls run off and you end up with a cutting headache,
Now that you have the layout set, you can stick down the cross shape you formed.
There is no need to apply adhesive to both tile and floor. Just apply to the tile. It will be much easier to lift up if you have to. In smaller rooms there is no need to stick down every tile. This will save you in adhesives. Larger rooms you can apply adhesive with a roller.
For future maintenance, you don’t want tiles to stick too firmly so what you do is wait 30 mins after applying your adhesive, before you lay the tile. If in future you need to replace any tiles, they are far easier to lift up.

Now that the cross is done, you fill out the remaining 4 quarters. A little tip here. Bend down the tile along its edges before you butt it in, for a nice clean finish.
It’s also important that the tiles line-up exactly with each other as you continue to lay them.
Finally, cut your tiles to fill the gap to the wall.
In the gap to the wall, lay your final tile upside down and mark the back with a marker along a line to be cut
Then cut the tile through to the floor, away from the tile below.
Turn it the right way up and fit it into the gap

Carpet Tile Wholesale
27 Forester St
Nottingham
NG4 2LJ
Tel: 0115 940 4454
Carpet tile fitting