Carpet tiles: need batten for straight edge?

[mike004]

Laying carpet tiles in a 3m x 3m spare room onto bare floorboards.
Do I need to nail down a "straight edge" batten, as I might when laying wall tiles?

I have done a quick lay of the main body of tiles and pushed them all together. The edges seem pretty square. But when I step back and view it looks awful. Joint lines where the tiles butt up to each other are clearly visible.
Any tips?

 

[masona]

You need to push the carpet tiles quite hard to the next one at a angle then push it down, nothing stopping you using the batten though.

 

[JIM456]

Mike in a 3X3 room you should be able to start by fitting a tile into a corner of the room and continue running the tiles out along and against the skirtings of the two walls (assuming the walls are square). In other words just use the walls as your straight edge.
As far as the joints are concerned the joints will always show up except in the most expensive tiles. The best idea is to make a feature of the tiles by laying them chequerboard. There should be arrows on the back of the tiles, lay half the arrows pointing towards the main light source, and the other half at right angles, the shading then gives you a nice chequered appearance and the joints don't stand out or look odd.

 

[mike004]

Thanks, Jim. I managed to make rapid progress last night, once I had mastered the recommended method of cutting part tiles -- butt a whole tile up to the skirting board and use this to score a "profile" on another tile.

At present all the arrows point in the same way, directly away from the light source. I can easily try out chequerboard effects when I have them all in place.

Also, once the tiles have been trodden in, I don't think the joins will be so visible.

Mike

 

[jollivee]

You did a good job in bringing those carpet tiles together. The checkerboard effect on carpet tiles is good and it will make your living room look stylish somewhat sporty. Carpets are now becoming a thing from the past, that's why lots of people are fond of carpet tiles because of its advantages. Carpet cleaning is very necessary to get those dusts, mites and other particles off those carpets. Hilo Carpet Cleaners do a very good job in cleaning your carpets.