Are Carpet Tiles Easy to Install?

Carpet floor tiles, you will be happy to know, are incredibly easy to install – especially when compared to sheet carpet which requires the entire area to be clear prior to installation. At Carpet Floor Tiles, we understand the needs of our customers who are simply looking for a quick flooring solution for their commercial and/or residential needs. 

When electing for tiles, the most important thing to remember is to calculate the number of tiles you will require for your area and to account for any potential room for error (we recommend adding on at least 10%-15% for this). Some rooms will be easier than others owing to the shape of the area you will be laying carpet tiles down on, but the same can also be said for sheet carpet. 

Why Carpet Tiles are Easy to Install 

Rather than pulling through an entire sheet of carpet into the room, tiles can be brought in as and when you are ready for them – allowing you to focus on installing the tiles in one area at a time. This means that in commercial spaces, work can be started at one end of the area while work carries on at the other end, potentially being finished once the business work has been finished. This allows the user to keep disruption down to the bare minimum. 

There is some degree of flexibility when choosing how to lay carpet tiles, such as if you would prefer for the tiles to be laid out in a particular pattern or direction. This can, and should, be done before fitting the tiles into place with adhesive glue. 

The nature of carpet tiles also means that, if the user wishes, they can choose to mix and match different styles of carpet tiles with each other, creating a unique design in their space. This is something not so easily achievable with sheet carpet as it would require a lot of strenuous cutting. For example, a user could decide to have two styles of tiles at each end of an office and in the middle, where the styles would meet, lay down the carpet tiles so they overlap as opposed to a clean transition from one into the other. 

DIY Installation 

Whereas with sheet carpet the customer may wish to call on the services of a professional to install their new flooring, carpet floor tiles are designed to be an easy DIY solution. This means that the customer saves money on paying for potentially expensive labour charges, as well as having complete control on when the tiles are installed. 

The important thing to remember is to allow the carpet tiles to acclimatise to the temperature of the room for at least 24 hours before installation. This is especially important in the winter months as tiles are more likely to arrive cold – either because they have spent the night in a warehouse or a transport depot. The reason behind this is that, in a heated room, the tiles can expand which causes them to peak if they have not been slowly brought to room temperature before installation. 

The other important thing to note is the direction the carpet tiles are laid in. On the bottom, you will find arrows signalling which way the tiles should be pointing. Laying tiles in the same direction will mean that seams become less noticeable and your flooring matches as it should. 

Replacing Damaged Tiles 

While carpet floor tiles are easier to install than sheet carpet, replacing damaged tiles is when they truly come into their own. Think of it like this – if a small part of sheet carpet becomes compromised, you will have to replace the entire floor. If one tile is damaged, you can get away with replacing just that one tile which will save you a lot of time and money. 

When you order carpet tiles, you will order more tiles than you need which means that you should have between 10% and 15% more tiles that you can store away for such a predicament. When a tile becomes damaged, either because of spillage, indentation or purely through ageing, all you will have to do is pull up the tile in question and replace with another tile. 

This should only be done with tiles produced from the same batch, ensuring that your replacement tiles perfectly match the pattern, direction and colouring of the other tiles. This is because, even if you were to order the same style of carpet tile, it cannot be guaranteed that the second batch with perfectly match the first as there can be differences between batches. Even the slightest anomaly can show up when laid in amongst other tiles on the floor. 

Fitting to Awkward Spaces 

It is considerably easier fitting carpet floor tiles into awkward spaces than it is sheet carpet because you will only have to cut single tiles as opposed to cutting off sections of a sheet and then cutting that down further. If your space features awkward shapes, you should consider upping the amount of wastage in your order, accounting for tiles that you will have to cut to size (possibly up to 20%), as well as the potential for human error. 

When you are measuring the area where you will be fitting carpet tiles, the measurement should be double and triple-checked to ensure as accurate a reading as possible. You should also ensure to take care to note the size of the carpet floor tiles you purchase as it is not necessarily a guarantee that every product is sold in a standard 50cm x 50cm. 

For more information on fitting your carpet floor tiles, or to discuss the ranges available from our website, please get in contact with a member of our team today.