That time a client's "just a quick patch" turned into a 12 foot seam nightmare

I showed up to a house last month in Columbus for what they said was a small patch near the sliding door. Turns out they had pulled up half the living room carpet to fix a pet stain and just laid it back down. The old carpet had stretched so bad over 8 years that the gap was almost 3 inches wide. I had to pull up furniture, re-stretch the whole room, and cut in a new seam strip just to make it look clean. By the time I finished, what should have been a 45 minute job took over 4 hours. Has anyone else had a "quick fix" that turned into a full day project?

2 comments

2 Comments

adam_thompson5312d agoMost Upvoted

Actually that 3 inch gap sounds like it might have been more of a stretch issue than a carpet problem (no pun intended). Carpet typically only stretches about 1-2% of its length over time, so an 8 year old room that's say 15 feet long would only have maybe 2-3 inches of slack total. You probably had some weird installation issues going on there too.

simon71712d ago

Can I ask how often you see people confusing "quick" with "simple"? It's like that buddy who says he'll help you move and shows up with just his car keys. @adam_thompson53 nailed it on the math, but the real killer is folks thinking carpet is magic that never changes. I bet that 3 inch gap wasn't from stretch alone, probably the padding got crushed or the seams were already coming apart from years of walking on them. Same thing happens with car tires. Someone wants a "quick patch" on a nail hole but ignores how old and dry-rotted the whole thing is. Then you peel it off and find cracks all through the tread. Four hours later you're explaining why they need a full set.