A customer pointed out my seams were too wide and it stung at first

I had a homeowner in Omaha call me back last week saying she could see every seam in her living room carpet, and honestly I thought I was doing fine. She showed me up close and I realized I was leaving around a 1/8 inch gap between the pieces instead of butting them tighter. Has anyone else gotten feedback like this that forced you to change your technique?

2 comments

2 Comments

stella_taylor13d ago

Yeah that 1/8 inch gap will get you every time once the carpet stretches out or the padding settles a bit. I had a similar wake up call a couple years ago when a customer pulled out a tape measure and showed me the gap was actually closer to 3/16ths in spots. Now I use a knee kicker to really snug the seams together before I lock them with the seam iron and roller. Also helps to stagger your rows so the seams don't all line up in the same spot across the room. What kind of backing were you working with? Some backing types are just more forgiving than others.

ward.kim13d ago

Wait, are you saying going with a tighter seam is always better? I've had the opposite problem where I pulled the seam too snug with the knee kicker and it actually caused the carpet to bubble up after a few weeks because the backing just couldn't handle that much tension. @stella_taylor that's interesting you mention staggering rows, but sometimes if the pattern's not forgiving, staggering just makes the mismatch more obvious than keeping everything in line. I guess it really depends on the pile height and whether you're working with something like a soft actionbac versus a stiff unitary backing.