Job in a Denver office building changed how I handle stairs

Back in 2018 I got a gig installing carpet in a 5 story office building in downtown Denver. The stairs were these weird curved ones with metal nosing that just would not lay flat no matter what I tried. After three days of fighting it, the foreman walked over and showed me how to notch the backing at 2 inch intervals along the curve. Let the carpet bend naturally instead of fighting it. I still do that on every set of stairs now, straight or curved. Anyone else run into stair configurations that forced you to change your method?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_fisher18d ago

@riverreed mentioned something about wetting carpet for a bow and that makes sense. I read that technique can help relax the backing on uneven surfaces, never tried it myself though.

riverreed18d ago

Man that foreman saved you a ton of frustration. I had a similar thing happen with some outdoor steps where the concrete was slightly bowed, had to wet the carpet and stretch it diagonally to get it to sit right. Changed how I look at any wonky surface now.