Here's How

• Step 1: Wearing gloves, rip up old carpet and prise up old gripper. Take care as barbs are sharp. Pull out or hammer in any nails, and remove staples. Sweep, then vacuum floor. Measure room for carpet and underlay, allowing an extra 100mm to trim all around.
• Step 2: Following walls, nail new gripper strips around room to let you stretch carpet and hold it to floor. Then nail the strips 6-10mm from skirting or wall with barbs pointing towards wall.
• Step 3: Roll out underlay to butt against gripper in a corner, and cut at far end to overlap gripper there by 50mm. Run underlay back other way, making sure seam between 2 is closed. Cut in doorways so it sits flat. Staple to floor, ensuring seams stay closed. On concrete floors use double-sided tape.
• Step 4: Trim underlay to exact size using inside edge of carpet gripper as a guide. Underlay should finish inside strips.
• Step 5: Roll out carpet and trim so it laps up each wall by about 50mm. Stretch carpet between opposite walls using kicker about 75mm from wall. Kick kicker with your knee at a slight angle to wall as you work, pressing carpet onto gripper spikes with a hammer as you go. Work as far into corners as you can. Then do other walls. Keep kicking until all wrinkles in carpet are gone.
• Step 6: Press carpet into a corner and cut a small V into carpet to just above floor level so it can sit flat. Also slit carpet to fit into doorways. Use kicker to work onto gripper at these points. Keep working around room, fitting carpet into each corner.
• Step 7: Bend carpet back and use a utility knife to trim carpet, leaving 15mm excess.
• Step 8: Use tucking tool to push excess carpet into gap between carpet gripper and skirting or wall to leave a neat edge.