Laying Padding: Part one of carpeting

So here I am, taking longer on this room than I expected. Finally, I was ready for the carpet and padding! The carpet and padding have been laying in my dining room for a couple weeks.  I had laid carpet only once in my life, and that very poorly. I had no stretcher or experience. I did, however, have the nail strips laid from my dad and an uncle as amazing as my dad. While I was waiting for delivery of the new rug, I cut the old carpet into the 18” lengths my garbage service requires, and used duct tape to hold the rolls. For this task I used SafetyGirl’s Tough Chix gloves. They were incredible. They weren’t thick or bulky but they protected my hands very well from the abrasive carpet backing. You can see them here, as well as the sticky knee pads. I also removed the old padding, then vacuumed the underlayment thoroughly. Just for good measure, I went over it with a damp rag. I bridged gaps in the plywood with masking tape and laid the padding out carefully. This came in a roll from BigBox and there was plenty for two rooms (re: plenty for me to make mistakes!).

My Uncle had my grandfather’s knee kicker and he lent it to me for when I did my carpet. I stopped out at his house Tuesday to get it, and his wife had her foot in a cast boot. He laughed and said he was going to get her another boot, put a bolt in her neck and a scar on her forehead and she’d be ready for Halloween! Such is the humor in our family.

Thursday night my friend JD wanted to catch up again over coffee, so I took an hour out to do that. He had old high school photos, which were a lot of fun. I wanted Andy to join us but he was waiting for his girls – Lucy was at cross country practice, while Grace was volunteering at the local library.

Before I left for coffee, I got most of the padding laid, which impressed me. I rolled it out horizontally, with three seams across the room, then tacked the edges of each. I used duct tape again to cover the tacks and connecting seams on the padding and called it good. Finally, something that didn’t fight me all the way! Maybe I can actually get the carpet laid myself. I guess we’ll find out together next week.