Professional Installer Vs. Amateur Installer, Does It Matter?
Professional Installer Vs. Amateur Installer, Does It Matter?
That depends on how much your new carpet matters to you. It is possible, and perfectly acceptable for you to either install your new carpet yourself, or hire someone who knows how to do it, but doesn’t have a lot of experience. However, installing new carpet is not just a matter of unrolling the new carpet in the room, and stapling it to the floor. There are insider secrets that carpet installers are given when they earn their license. Ok, not really, but there are things they know about their profession that us average Joe’s are not aware of.
Professional Installers know exactly which steps to take from start to finish. These steps would include but are not limited to the following list.
- Removing the old carpet without damaging the subflooring.
- Preparing and/or repairing the sub flooring to prevent damage to the new carpet.
- How to measure and cut the new carpeting correctly.
- What steps need to be taken prior to installation for various carpet types.
- What an underlay is, and how to complete this part.
- How to make sure the seams are laid correctly.
However, professional installers cost money, some of them quite a bit more than others.
Alternatively, paying the guy down the block to install your new carpet because you saw how great job he did laying the carpet in his rec room might not turn out to be a terrible idea after all. Of course, you should probably go over there and look it over very carefully before you let him at that roll of carpet you just spent thousands of dollars on.
These are some of the things you should look for.
- Do the edges of the carpet reach completely and evenly to every wall and corner? (Carpet not measured and cut correctly cannot be fixed, nor hidden for very long.)
- Is the carpet laying flat through the entire room? (Lumps and bubbles under the carpet are not a good sign.)
- If the carpet was installed in squares, are the seams invisible, or can you see a gap between them? (You don’t want to see any gaps.)
- Are the edges of the carpet tacked correctly, or are the edges starting to fray or unravel? (You don’t want to see carpet fibers coming apart.)
Hiring a professional, quality installer for your carpet requirements is the better choice for the long run. Plus, they will offer a guarantee for at least one year in case of any unforeseen problems resulting from any mistakes they made. That guy down the block is just going to tell you that you got what you paid for.