Interfloor’s gripper range stands out from the competition. Improved specifications for Gripperrods® Professional and Gripperrods® Tackfast include wider strips and greater stability on all types of sub-floors thanks to an increase in floor-holding pre-nails and precision pins.
For a stretch fit installation, you need to install carpet grippers before you fit a carpet to ensure it stays taught and in place. Carpet gripper rods are thin strips of high-grade, resin bonded plywood with sharp, angled nails and pins or tacks that hold your carpet in place. They’re usually about a quarter of an inch thick and around an inch wide.
Carpet grippers are easy to install, you just nail or stick them to the floor around the perimeter of your room, and the angled pins will hold your carpet in place securely. Our Gripperrods® Professional and Gripperrods® Tackfast products are renowned for their excellent quality; they’re also the only carpet grippers manufactured in the UK.
First, you need to select the best carpet gripper rods for your type of floor. At interfloor, we have a wide range of carpet gripper rods to suit all types of flooring. The above tool will help you choose the best gripper for your needs.
There are two main types of gripper rod, stick down and nail down. Stick down grippers are best used when it is impractical to nail one into your floor i.e. if there are pipes below the floorboards. Pre-nailed carpet grippers include specific nails for use with different types of flooring. Dual purpose carpet gripper is ideal for most wood and concrete floors.
The next step is to fit your grippers around the perimeter of the room, cutting the rods to size with a hacksaw when you reach the end of each wall. Ideally, you should leave a gap around the same thickness of your carpet between the skirting and the gripper (around 10mm). This will enable you to neatly tuck the carpet in after you’ve fitted it to the gripper.
You also need to make sure the angled nails are facing towards the wall, so the carpet can be stretched over them. It’s a good idea to measure the perimeter of your room before you buy carpet grippers, so you know how many you need.
Once you’ve set your perimeter, the final step is to fasten them to the floor. This is simple. If you’ve used nail down grippers, just hammer the nails into the floor. If you’ve used stick down grippers, you will need to spread some adhesive onto the floor facing side, stick it to the floor and let it dry. You can see our range of high-quality adhesives for stick down gripper rods here.
Concrete floors can sometimes be tricky because it’s very hard to hammer a nail into concrete.
Here’s how you do it… place your gripper rod on the floor and make a mark with a pencil underneath where the nails are lined up with the floor. After you’ve marked up the space for your carpet gripper, you’ll need to drill a hole and insert a dowel rod. You can then use the dowel rod as a rawl plug for the carpet gripper’s nails. Once you’ve neatly inserted the dowel rod, you just have to hammer the nails in, and you’re done. A perfect installation that will hold your new carpet nicely.
If you need to replace your gripper rods with new ones, it can be fiddly, but here’s what you need to do…
A forewarning: Always wear safety goggles. Carpet gripper rods are covered in sharp nails and pins that can easily become airborne when levered off the floor. Be careful, it’s not worth losing an eye to a carpet gripper. It’s also a good idea to wear gloves; the nails and pins are sharp and you don’t want to cut yourself.
Now, on to actually removing the gripper… Starting at one end of the room, use a chisel to get underneath the gripper and gently hammer along the length of the gripper to loosen it up. You should then be able to lever the nails/adhesive loose and remove them from the floor to make space for new ones.
You should always use new gripper rods when you install a new carpet. Old gripper rods can become weak, water damaged and hammered out of shape when you install and remove them. Meaning they won’t hold your carpet in place effectively.
At interfloor, we have a huge range of carpet grippers for all types of installation. Including commercial, residential and private properties. You can browse our products above, and if you need any information or help with anything, just get in touch using our contact form, or the details in the footer below.
