Using The Right Tools & Accessories

There are certain accessories and tools that you will need whenever you fit underlay:

Accessories

Carpet gripper

Plywood strips, approximately 1.5m in length, which should be bonded and nailed to the floor next to the skirting board. The underlay is laid up to the edge of the gripper and the carpet is laid over the pins, which grip on to the backing, and then tucked over the edge. We recommend Gripperrods, the UK’s leading brand of carpet gripper, as they manufacture high quality plywood made from Russian birch.

Gripper adhesive

Ideally this should be used to stick the gripper to the sub floor, especially if it’s made from concrete. We recommend Gripperrods Rapidbond for this task.

Underlay tape

Required to join the strips of underlay together to provide a firm base on which to lay a carpet which will be stretch fitted over the top.

Tools

Gripper shears

Carpet gripper will need to be cut to fit the size and contours of your room. We recommend you use gripper shears to cut your gripper in the quickest and safest way.

Carpet fitting kit (knife, carpet stretcher, carpet tucker)

A good quality basic kit will give you professional results without costing the earth. A standard kit includes a carpet knife for cutting carpet and underlay to fit, a carpet stretcher for stretch fitting the carpet over the gripper, and a carpet tucker for tucking the carpet over the gripper to give a neat finish.

Blades

You will need spare blades for your carpet knife.

Knee kicker

Ideal for stretching, re-stretching or re-positioning a carpet.

Your own hammer

For nailing the carpet gripper to the sub floor.

Your own tape measure

For measuring out your room and the lengths of carpet, underlay and carpet gripper.

Advanced Tools

We’ve come across two advanced fitting tools which can save you time and money if you’ve got a big job to do. Both have been developed with master fitters.

SpeedCatt

Speeds up the creasing and tucking of carpets dramatically. SpeedCatt has wheels which glide over the carpet and enable you to crease and tuck like a pro.

Trim Master

Speeds up the cutting of carpet and vinyl floors. Uses standard carpet knife blades.