How to remove carpet and put on a runner?

[BeverlyCleary]

We need to remove this carpet as soon as we can and replace with a runner. Just wondering if anyone has ever done this? Are we mad to think we could do this ourselves? My husband is pretty handy but has never tackled stairs before. He has put down laminate flooring. I've tried to call around for carpet fitters but struggling to find anyone. Thank you.

Laying a runner is not difficult. Its preping the stairs that's hard. You'll want to sand and fill the sections each side then paint.
The stairs look very narrow for a runner, why not red carpet the stairs in something less "eye catching"? Saves the stair prep.

Re carpet not "red carpet" - it was the picture!

Thanks very much Eng. I assumed putting a runner would be easier but that's good to know.

I would carpet them if it were me. When fitting a stair carpet I always cut each riser/tread as a seperate piece. You will find that there is gripped bars at the back of each tread and the bottom of each riser (unless the current carpet is glued but it is rare). To make life easy pick a carpet of a similar thickness so you can re use the gripped without having to reset the spacing. I usually fit underlay in strips, staring at the gripped bar at the ba k of the tread and long enough to reach 2/3 down the riser staple these in place. The key to a stair carpet is to measure the width carefully string to string. Do so in may places to ensure that the stings are parrallell, if not account for this in the cut. I usually mark out as long a strip as possible and cut this with a straight edge this needs to be straight, clean and accurate. Measure / mark twice -cut once! Cut the first riser/ tread from your strip (start at the bottom) allowing about 15mm extra. Align the carpet between the strings, tuck the carpet into the gripped at the back of the tread, (I use a holster with tape on it but you can buy specialist carpet fitting tools) then pulling it as tight as possible tuck the bottom of the carpet into the gripped at the bottom of the riser. I try to make sure that when I tuck at the bottom of the riser I've just enough length to push the bolster in 5 or 10mm from the edge - this has the effect od tightening everything up. You have a winder to do as well, same procedure but check the string widths as they are likely to vary slightly. Hope that helps

Oh, also be careful to keep the carpet running the same way as many have a nap. It doesn't matter what way the nap goes but they should always go the same way as they could look a slightly different colour.

Runners also have to be sent off to be edged then fitted in pieces and seamed. Lot easier to do full coverage.

Thanks very much