About This Career

Lays and installs carpet from rolls or blocks on floors. Installs padding and trims flooring materials.

This career is part of the Architecture and Construction cluster Construction pathway.

A person in this career:

• Rolls out, measures, marks, and cuts carpeting to size with a carpet knife, following floor sketches and allowing extra carpet for final fitting.
• Inspects the surface to be covered to determine its condition, and corrects any imperfections that might show through carpet or cause carpet to wear unevenly.
• Joins edges of carpet and seam edges where necessary, by sewing or by using tape with glue and heated carpet iron.
• Cuts and trims carpet to fit along wall edges, openings, and projections, finishing the edges with a wall trimmer.
• Plans the layout of the carpet, allowing for expected traffic patterns and placing seams for best appearance and longest wear.
• Stretches carpet to align with walls and ensures a smooth surface, and presses carpet in place over tack strips or uses staples, tape, tacks or glue to hold carpet in place.
• Takes measurements and studies floor sketches to calculate the area to be carpeted and the amount of material needed.
• Installs carpet on some floors using adhesive, following prescribed method.
• Cleans up before and after installation, including vacuuming carpet and discarding remnant pieces.
• Measures, cuts and installs tackless strips along the baseboard or wall.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 50 lbs., sometimes up to 100 lbs. You will need a lot of strength at this level.
• Work in this occupation involves bending or twisting your body more than one-third of the time
• Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
• Requires getting into awkward positions
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Work in this occupation involves kneeling, crouching, stooping, and/or crawling more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Judging how far away an object is, or which of several objects is closer or farther away
• Using muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring
• Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching
• Seeing clearly at a distance
• Seeing clearly up close
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
• Exerting oneself physically over long periods of time without getting out of breath
• Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying objects
• Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring

Work Hours and Travel

• Regular working hours and limited travel