PSA: I went 12 years stapling tack strip right into slab corners until a guy in Fresno showed me why it pops | Carpet Installers - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
PSA: I went 12 years stapling tack strip right into slab corners until a guy in Fresno showed me why it pops
I always shot tack strip straight down on concrete corners and figured the occasional pop was just old glue or bad luck. Last month I was on a job in Fresno with an installer named Ray who has been doing this 30 years, and he watched me staple a corner and just shook his head. He pulled out a hammer drill and showed me that concrete corners need a pilot hole and a short piece of strip set at a slight angle, or the staple rides up and the strip lifts within a year. He had a notebook with 14 addresses where he went back and fixed other guys' corners for free just to prove the point. I tried it on my next three jobs and not one corner has budged. Any of you drill your corners, or am I late to something most of you already do?
That bit about the notebook with 14 addresses got me. I used to work with an old guy who kept a notebook like that but it was for carpet seams he had to go back and redo because of humidity swings. He would write down the date, the house, and how bad the bubble got. Drove his wife crazy but he swore it was the only way he learned anything. Never thought about doing the same thing for corners but now I might start writing stuff down.