It was the thought that counts...

So yesterday morning I get a phone call in regards to a possible carpet job. The gentleman tells me he was buying carpet from the Home Depot, however, they would not be able to install it until the 1st of July. His dilemma is that he needs it done by this upcoming Monday!

No problem, I asked him when would be the soonest he could get the carpet on the job. He told me he could get it there by the next morning and I agreed to install it for him. "Wow, that was fast!" was his response. :-)

So after we confirmed the job he mentioned to me that he had already put down the tack strips. The job was in his basement, which meant concrete, and if you know anything about installing carpet, the tack strips, on concrete, is a real pain to tack down. If the strips are not done properly it will mess up the entire installation process. (Anyone see where this is going yet?)

My son and I arrived at 9amET this morning, as scheduled. Once we met with the homeowner we were shown the room where the carpet was to be installed.

Immediately I started to check the tack strips. At first glance I was pretty impressed. The homeowners were installing the carpet over existing VCT tiles and the tack strips were holding pretty good, however.......

There were 2 immediate issues. The first was that the gap in between the strip and the baseboard was close to an inch. Normally it should be about 1/4 - 1/2 inch or just enough so you can fit your fingertip between the strip and baseboard. This wouldn't have been too big a deal if the baseboards were raised, however, they were not!

Now the second issue is one I haven't run into before. Seriously, close to 12 years of installing carpet and I never seen this done before. The tack strips, 75% of them, were facing the wrong direction. Each piece of carpet tack strip is pre-nailed and also has little tacks which grasp the carpet in order to properly stretch the carpet. Though the homeowner thought he was doing us a favor by putting down the tack strips himself, in the end, it made this install much more difficult.

Hey, it was the thought that counts!

So we had to put down a second piece of strip with the tacks facing the right direction in order to properly stretch the carpet. Unfortunately we were not able to pop up what he had already installed to correct the gap difference between the strip and baseboard because the VCT tile flooring they were installing over was starting to bust up. In other words, if we would have tried to pop up the strip, we would have had to pop all the tiles, and then liquid nail the strip to the concrete, which the homeowner did not want to do!

To accommodate for the gap between the strip and baseboard we simply tucked extra carpet to give it a nice tight fit, then went back after we stretched, re-inforced some areas by stapling the carpet to the tack strip, then trimmed the excess carpet to give it a pretty tuck around the baseboards. Talk about time consuming........!

Once the job was completed, the homeowner was very pleased, apologized for their mistake, and acknowledged they know better for next time! :-)

So here is the lesson for today. There are 2 lessons actually!!

The first lesson is when installing tack strips, for all you DIY's out there, be sure that you have the tacks on the strip facing toward the baseboards. Most tack strips have an arrow on them which tells you the direction to face the tack strip toward the baseboard. These strips did and when I showed that to the homeowner they said, "Oh that is what those meant. I thought there might have been a certain way they needed to be installed." All you can do is laugh with them! Also remember that the strips should be about a 1/4 - 1/2 inch away from the baseboards. A good rule of thumb is to use your fingertip as a spacer. With raised baseboards the distance is not as important, however, when the baseboards are on the floor, you will want to be sure and keep them closer so the carpet can be tucked securely between the strip and the baseboard giving it a nice tight finish.

The second lesson is patience. Once we realized the job was going to take twice as long to complete because of a simple error made on the part of the homeowner, we did not get upset or impatient. No corners were cut, we did what we had to do and made the best of the situation, without making the homeowner feel bad about their mistake. Sometimes the easy jobs aren't always so easy!!

In the end, it was another satisfied customer, and that is what makes what we do worth it.

Have a blessed day!
Ron First Class Installations