Took me 5 hours to fix a seam I could have done in 20 minutes

I had this job last Tuesday in an old house off Maple Drive. The customer wanted a tight seam in a hallway where the subfloor had a dip. I figured I'd just use my regular seaming iron and some tape, but the backing kept lifting. I tried adjusting the heat three times, backed the tack strip out and reset it, even pulled out my knee kicker to stretch it tighter. Nothing worked. After messing around for almost 5 hours, I finally realized the floor pad I used was too thick for that cheap carpet. I had to pull everything up, swap the pad for a thinner one, and lay it all again. Whole job took like 9 hours when it should have been 3. Has anyone else run into a pad thickness problem that just wrecked your day? I'm about to start checking pad specs before I even unroll the carpet.

2 comments

2 Comments

nancy_miller2d ago

Oh man, I feel your pain. I started keeping a notebook in my truck with pad specs and carpet types after a similar screwup two years ago. Now I just glance at it before I even grab the tape and it saves me so much hassle.

west.claire3d ago

Honestly I used to skip checking pad thickness too but now I always double check it after a mess like that.