Toronto Carpet Inspector

I am surprised how it appears that no  one in Canada is aware that there has been a new standard for carpet installation released in the past year by the Carpet and Rug Institute.

Most carpet mills expect the carpet installers to install according to this standard.

If you haven’t seen it or reviewed it then please follow the following link:

http://www.carpet-rug.org/pdf_word_docs/CRI_Carpet_Installation_Standard_2011.pdf

I actually got an inspection this week where I had to turn back the carpet and measure the thickness of the pad in the traffic areas as compared to untrafficked areas.

I walked into the home and saw the two areas the homeowner was complaining about were under a plastic runner in the master bedroom and the pivot spot in front of a desk.

Of course the first thing I say to myself is well of course these areas are going to be bad. But my training kicks in and I say to myself “don’t jump to conclusions”.

I have to have a helper with me to move the furniture around and lo and behold I check the pad and see that indeed the pad in the traffic areas are compromised. I say to my helper (and to myself) “you see, you never jump to conclusions”.

Its funny how often I walk into an inspection and upon first glance I think I know what the problem is only to discover how wrong my first impressions were after following  the proper protocols.

I always ask my customers in my interview for claim history what the previous people inspecting the carpet for the retailer, installer or mill rep did when they “inspected”. Its rare that I hear of anyone so much as get down on the carpet.

I have to wonder why people so often trust these preliminary observations.

I had to run off to a beautiful home in Port Perry the other day to look at a carpet. Its a beautiful home and they have the best of everything in the home.

The carpet installers found a bow in the carpet when it was unrolled. They say it was unfixable even using a powerstretcher. I got to the house and found the carpet fully installed. If there was an unfixable bow in the carpet it should never have been installed. The tolerance for bow or skew with most of the carpet mills is 1.5 inches over a twelve foot width.

As an inspector I am supposed to measure uninstalled pieces if possible. I measure the carpet for bowing and found the maximum bow to be .75 inches.

I feel for all concerned here. The customer does not like the curving pattern of the carpet and wants it replaced. The retailer may have to gobble this deal.

The point of this post is that the carpet mills expect an installer to be able to remedy a bow or skew of an inch and a half or less. Nobody said it was easy.

The use of a mini stretcher or crab stretcher, a powerstretcher and stay nails are the tools that must be employed.

I had to inspect a carpet last week in an apartment. When I got there the carpet was rippled everywhere. The install had been down for three years and “restretched” three times. I ask the customer for the claim history and he starts yelling at me saying “look, look” and didn’t answer any of my questions. I decide to disengage the carpet and look underneath to look for evidence that the carpet had been properly stretched in the first place. Lo and behold I find the carpet is loosely laid over a laminate floor–no tackstrip , no underlayment. The customer screams again, this time stating that the floor cost him $8K and no one was going to put holes in it to put tackstrip and underpad. Okay, so I can understand that the guy is the type who yells and screams until he gets what he wants—BUT WHY IS THE RETAILER ALLOWING IT, LET ALONE “RESTRETCHING IT” THREE TIMES. What has the carpet business come to? For those people reading this blogpost let it be known that carpet over underpad must be tacked down somehow AND it must be powerstretched 1-1.5% of both its length and its width. Otherwise the carpet will buckle.