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You’ll need equal amounts of carpet padding and carpet. Carpet padding costs $200 to $500 for the average room. However, the padding is trimmed a couple of inches away from the wall on all sides to make room for tack strips. Most residential installs have padding, and professionals include this in their bids.

Often, the best carpet for basements doesn’t include a pad. You’ll find this mainly in humid areas or places with a high-water table.

One linear foot of carpet or other material is simply one foot measured in a straight line. You typically aren’t going to measure carpet this way. It’s quoted in square feet or square yards.

There are nine square feet in one square yard of carpet.

The amount of carpet you need to cover two rooms varies depending on the room size and configuration. Measure the floor space. Multiply width times length. Do this for both rooms and add the numbers together.

You’ll need between 80 and 110 square feet for 13 stairs. For unique stairwells, you might need more.

Measure indoor/outdoor carpet like you would any other area, taking the width times the length. For patios, make sure to add a couple extra inches to wrap around the edges. Indoor-outdoor carpets cost an average of $3.50 per square foot.

You’ll need enough carpet to cover the entire area of damage to avoid seams. For example, if you have a 4-inch tear in the middle of a hallway, you’ll want enough carpet to stretch from door to door or the next available seam. Depending on the type of carpet you have, you might be able to get a professional to do an invisible seam repair.

One square foot of carpet is one foot long by one foot wide.