Laying Carpet Tiles

Depending on their construction, carpet tiles can be laid in various ways, including quarter turn, chessboard, broadloom and random lay. This means that not only can you create stunning designs using different colour tiles; you can also produce a unique look by using a single colour tile, but varying the direction of their pile.

Each tile has an arrow on the back that shows the direction of the pile. For example, if you want to achieve a broadloom seamless effect, then make sure that the arrows all point in the same direction when laid. If you're creating a chessboard look, then simply lay each tile at right angles to its neighbour.

What You'll Need

• a Stanley knife or carpet knife with heavy duty blade (make sure the blade is new)
• metal ruler or straight edge
• tape measure
• cutting board
• string
• chalk or pencil
• spray adhesive

Steps

1. Make sure that the floor is completely clean, dry and level. Never lay carpet tiles on top of carpet.
2. Bring the carpet tiles into the room in which they'll be installed at least 24 hours before you start the job. This will enable the tiles to adjust to the surrounding humidity and temperature.
3. Plan out your layout by setting out two lines of tiles to take in the length and width of the room. Try to make sure that you have a full tile in the doorway, and that you don't have any small slivers of tile less than 10 cm.
4. Avoid starting your tiles along a wall, as they are rarely completely straight.
5. Draw a line with your chalk or pencil two full tiles distance away from the doorway (parallel with the door) and lay a row of tiles on each side of the chalk line. If you are happy with the positioning of the tiles, lightly hold them in place with some spray adhesive.
6. Build up the rest of the room, working from these initial 2 rows, securing every 5th row with spray adhesive. Leave any areas that require the tile to be cut for now.
7. Once that you a satisfied that all tiles are positioned correctly, and are square and tight, then you can tackle the tiles that need cutting.
   • Remove the tile from the last uncut row and swap it with the tile you want to cut.
   • Now place the tile you removed on top of the tile you wish to cut, pushing it up against the wall or skirting board so it overlaps the bottom tile.
   • Place your metal straight edge against the tile edge, then remove the top tile, which was simply acting as a template.
   • Carefully cut the bottom tile using a sharp knife, removing the waste section of the tile (the area that the template tile overlapped).
   • Slide the cut section towards the wall, and replace the template tile into its original spot.
   • Repeat the process around the edge of the room.
8. Where the tiling meets other floor coverings, finish with the appropriate edgings.

* Always use a new, sharp blade
* Always cut from the back of the tile
* Always cut away from yourself