How To Install Carpet Tiles on Wood Floor | Carpet Tile Installation Guide

Carpet tiles can be laid over a wood floor, provided it is clean, level, solid, and can still be ventilated after the carpet is installed. The first step is to prepare the wood subfloor for carpet installation, and then purchase the right amount of tiles and layout them in your room. Here we will detail each step of installing carpet tiles on the wood floor!

1. Repair damaged wood boards

To prepare a floor for carpet installation, start by fixing cracked or broken boards:

• Using a nail puller or pliers, remove damaged or bent nails and replace them.

• Use a hammer to drive in any nails that protrude from the boards.

• Fill the cracks with wood filler or multipurpose filler, using a spatula that is wider than the crack to be filled.

• If you find large cracks, fill them first with wood chips or heavy twine and then cover with wood filler.

• Enough filler or paste should be applied to completely fill the crack. Smooth these products with a spatula.

• Allow the paste or filler to dry and harden, then smooth out the excess with sandpaper.

2. Check the flatness of the floor

For a carpet installation to be aesthetically pleasing and durable, the floor must be completely flat. To check the flatness of your floor, place a 2-meter aluminum ruler at different points on the floor.

• If the gap between the floor and the ruler is less than or equal to 7 mm, the flatness defect is small and does not need to be corrected.

• If the gap between the ruler and the floor is greater than 7 mm, you must level the floor to correct the unevenness. Leveling a floor consists in covering it with a special coating to harmonize its leveling.

• On a wooden surface such as your parquet floor, use a fibered leveling compound.

3. Before sanding the floor, protect yourself

It is necessary to sand the floor before installing the carpet. To do this, use an electric sander.

Caution: the use of this type of sander requires some precautions:

• Wear a helmet to protect yourself from the noise of the drill.

• Wear a mask to protect yourself from the dust.

• Wear safety glasses to protect your eyes.

4. Sand the center of the floor

The floor must be sanded to remove any roughness and to allow the glue or carpet backing to adhere properly to the floor.

There are two types of sanders used to sand a floor:

• The belt sander used to sand the center of the surface;

• The angle sander, used to sand the edges and corners.

With the belt sander, start by sanding the center of the surface:

• Equip the sander with coridon paper or sandpaper. Start sanding with a coarse grit. The average grit size for sanding a wood floor is between 80 and 120.

• Pass the sander over the floor without pressing. You only have to guide the sander, its own weight is enough.

• Do not leave the sander in one place for too long, as this may cause the floor to become hollow.

• Run the sander in parallel strips. Each time you reach the back of the room, turn around. Remember to criss-cross the passes to sand the entire surface. Do not sand too close to corners and baseboards.

• Once you've sanded the entire surface with the heavy-grit paper, equip the sander with fine-grit paper.

• Run the sander over the floor again for finishing touches.

5. Sanding edges with the angle sander

The triangular shape and small size of the angle sander allow you to sand the floor near baseboards and in corners without damaging the floor.

• Equip the angle sander with grit paper or corundum paper. Start sanding with coarse grit paper and then use fine grit paper for the finishing touches.

• Sand along baseboards and in corners. Do not press or leave the sander in one place for too long to avoid damaging the floor.

6. Clean the wood subfloor

After sanding the floor, you need to clean it to get rid of the dust generated by sanding.

• Vacuum or sweep the floor.

• Then clean the floor with a damp mop.

• Let the floor dry.

7. Evaluate the amount of carpet tile to purchase

Measure the area of the room where you will be installing the carpet tiles:

• If the room is not rectangular, divide the area into rectangular areas and add them together.

• If some corners are not right angles, isolate them into rectangular triangles.

• If the room has a circular shape, calculate the area of the square or rectangle that contains the circular shape.

Then make a sketch of the room to scale.

Calculate the number of tiles needed

Start by calculating the area of a carpet tile (length × width) in square meters.

Then, perform the following calculation:

Room area in square meters / Area of one tile in square meters = Number of carpet tiles.

Buy 10% more tiles to replace stained or damaged tiles. Here is the calculation to determine the total number of tiles to purchase:

The number of tiles × 1.1 = The Number of tiles to purchase.

8. Do the layout to lay carpet tiles

The first step is to choose between two carpet tile installation techniques: straight and diagonal. In all cases, it is best to perform a blank installation to determine the best way to position the carpet tiles.

Straight installation: 3 possible choices

• Laying from a wall: This involves laying the carpet tiles from a corner of the room, along both walls of the chosen corner. This is the simplest installation technique.

• Center of door installation: This involves drawing a line on the floor from the center of the door, then laying the tiles on either side of that line.

• Laying from the center of the room to create a pattern with carpet tiles:

  - This type of installation first requires you to design and draw the desired pattern on a sheet of paper, respecting a scale.

  - Then, you must mark the floor with axes (diagonals) that will serve as reference points for the installation, and attach the tiles starting from a right angle formed by these diagonals. The order in which the tiles are laid will be determined by the diagram you made when you designed the pattern.

9. Lay the carpet on the wood floor

The tiles, regardless of the installation technique (straight or diagonal), are secured with double-sided tape that will hold the tiles to the floor. Stick the tape on the axes you have drawn on the floor. If you have chosen to install it from a wall, you will place the tape along the baseboards.

It is also possible to tape the entire surface of the floor. However, this is not necessary: the tiles taped together will be sufficient to hold the rest of the tiles together.

The order and placement of the tiles depending on the type of installation you have chosen when laying out the floor.

Cutting Carpet Edges

There are two ways to cut the edges of carpet tiles, the following steps will help you make this cut:

Case 1: Cutting the edges with a straight laying pattern

If you have opted for a straight installation, you will make the cuts by using a tile as a template, which you will superimpose on the tile to be cut.

• Lay a new tile on top of the last tile before the wall. This is the slab to be cut.

• Lay a second new tile on top, wedging it against the wall. This second tile acts as a ruler and shows you the area to be cut.

• Holding both tiles together, cut the first tile along the edge of the second.

• The part of the first tile that you just cut will fit into the space between the last tile and the wall.

Case 2: Cutting the edges diagonally

If you have chosen a diagonal installation, you must cut a template out of rigid cardboard to use as a reference for the cut. This template must be square in shape with sides equal to the length of the diagonal of a tile. Proceed as follows:

• Place a slab on the slab closest to the wall.

• On this tile, place the template against the wall or baseboard.

• Cut the tile under the template along the edge of the template. The cutout will be sized to fit into the empty space between the last full tile and the wall.