We constantly hear that installation is the biggest problem in the industry. Whether it’s commercial or residential carpet, the installer is made to be the bad guy when there’s any failure that can remotely be attributed to installation. Not testing the substrate, not enough adhesive, pattern not worked properly to align it, seams not sealed and so on, all blamed on installation or the installer. I am an advocate for working to resolve any issue related to installation blamed on the installer who doesn’t get the support of his dealer when he should. Recently however, there have been several situations we’ve gotten involved in that are of real concern because not only are they contributing to installation problems but they clearly show that the installer doesn’t know the products he’s working with. All of the installers have, naturally, had over 20 years of experience installing carpet, they always do. None of them however could answer simple questions posed to them when trying to help them resolve the challenge they were faced with on the job. Let me share these with you.
In one case the installer called the manufacturer with a concern about not being able to cut the carpet straight, telling the manufacturer there was a problem with their carpet. The product he was questioning was a straight row stitched cut and loop pattern piece of goods, very densely constructed with a barber poled type yarn. He called to tell the manufacturer that their carpet was a piece of junk and that it could not be cut to make a proper seam. After talking to the installer to find out exactly what he was doing so we could determine what the problem might be and how to help him overcome it, we found, to our amazement, that he was trying to cut the carpet with a electric glass cutter. Why? Only he knows. This was something I had never heard before and didn’t even know there was a tool that did this. It may be a technique he had used before, and I’ve got to assume it was, or else why would he be using it on this carpet? He was told he had to run a row on the carpet and could use a top cutter or cushion back cutter. He had never heard of this carpet cutting device, around for as many years as I can remember, and he didn’t know what we were talking about. After a lengthy conversation to try and help him, the manufacturer actually sent him the knife they were talking about so he could work with the carpet. He was also told not to use his electric knife, which he mentioned was jumping the rows because of the way the carpet was constructed! No wonder he was being challenged. After all of this fiasco trying to help this guy get the carpet installed without any problems, the manufacturer gets a charge back for $9,000.00 in extra labor because of the challenges the installer had with installing their product. This installer worked for a large commercial dealer who either wasn’t paying attention to what this guy was doing, wasn’t aware that he was trying to fleece them and the manufacturer for labor because of his lack of skill, knowledge and talent and basically didn’t know what he was doing. This installer had no clue as to the type of carpet he was working with and how to cut it and he wants to blame the manufacturer for a situation he created.
In the next case I got a call from a dealer who had problems with small wrinkles and buckles in a carpet they had installed some office space. I got as much information as I could about what happened and when. I explained how he might fix the carpet by injecting a high quality, high solids adhesive into these loose areas with a large hypodermic needle used specifically for this purpose. He had not heard of using this technique but agreed to obtain the device and send his installer, another seasoned pro with over 20 years of experience, to try fix the concerns using this technique to see if it would work. A couple of weeks later I got a call from the installer, who was calling from the jobsite, asking for some additional help and information about the buckles and wrinkles and how to fix them. He said he had tried the needle and adhesive on a couple of the wrinkles and they seemed to be stuck down flat at this point. I questioned him about the carpet he was working on; who is the manufacturer, what is the style, what type of backing does the carpet have, what adhesive are you using, what yarn system is it, etc. Not one of these questions did he have the answer to. Again, I was amazed the installer, who told me he had years of experience, didn’t know the product he was working with, not even the yarn system or whether the carpet was woven or tufted. Needless to say, this is not only shocking but down right scary. I shudder to think of the number of installers who don’t have a clue about the carpets’ they’re working with. We consulted with the manufacturer of the carpet and had faxed to us the installation instructions and information on the backing system so we could determine how the product was supposed to be installed and how the backing might be contributing to the buckles and wrinkles inherently. This would tell us why he may have had problems in the first place, whether the carpet was contributing to the problems and as a result, what the installer would have to be aware of to make the installation work. This would also tell us how the wrinkles could be repaired. This information was also available to the dealer with a simple phone call and the manufacturer would have been happy to forward to him the installation instructions he needed to work with this product.
There are so many technological advances in backing materials, yarn systems, constructions and facials that it’s hard keeping up with the changes even when you’re involved in new technology daily. In the last three years virtually everyone who makes carpet, particularly the smaller manufacturers, have invested in state of the art tufting equipment. Backings are changing at an alarmingly fast rate, so much so that unless the installer is educated on what he’s working with, he won’t even know what he’s looking at when he gets some of these new products in his hands.
These backings offer the challenges of using different types of adhesives and different techniques and possibly different tools to get the carpet installed properly and correctly. There are moisture barrier backings to contend with and new synthetic type backings made with recycled content that may require special knifes to cut, adhesives to adhere and knowledge to understand the inherent characteristics of the product. 20 years of installing carpet is nothing to brag about if you don’t know what you’re doing and if you don’t or haven’t kept up with this new technology. It’s only 20 years of experience installing carpet not 20 years of understanding and knowing what you’re working with, what you have to do to make it stay on the floor, cut it, seam it and the science behind why it is what it is. That takes an active effort and endeavor to commit to learning about the product. Most commercial dealers don’t do that, never mind the installer. And the manufacturer doesn’t always have all the bugs worked out either or doesn’t always tell you there may be bugs in the product, if they do know. Add to that the fact that if they push the envelope too far on cost savings in the carpet they may compromise it’s integrity and deny forever that they have. That’s something that we pride ourselves on never letting escape detection to serve our clients best interests – that’s another story for another time though.
The point here is that many of the installation failures are due to not knowing about the product you’re working with. Not only does this compromise the job but it also puts you in a bad position of not being able to defend yourself if you are in dispute with a manufacturer. You have to fully understand the product being worked with in order to explain intelligently the problem being experienced. It may be that someone will have to get a piece of the carpet and duplicate what you’re doing in the field, which can be done, to determine how to help you. If the installer can’t explain what he’s having trouble with, doesn’t know the product or has no idea what he could be doing wrong, he can’t get the help he needs. This leads to hostile reactions and doesn’t get a lot resolved.
If the cases we’ve had recently are any indication of a problem starting to manifest itself in the field, and, unfortunately, I think it is, then we’re in for some turbulent travel ahead. Between all the issues inundating the industry over substrate conditions relative to moisture levels and alkalinity, add to that the lack of product knowledge and new requirements in installation and we have a formula for disaster. It’s like tornado season all over the country; storms hovering overhead and no one knowing exactly where they’ll touch down. When they do, without notice, there’s total destruction of the job, exacerbated by the fact that no one understands exactly what happened or why or worse yet, they don’t want to hear or believe they did something wrong because they didn’t know what they were doing, what they were working with and how they could, as a result of this not knowing, cause a floor covering failure.
Finger pointing is always a sport after a problem like this but unfortunately it may be done with no earthly clues as to why there’s a problem. When it can be proven, and it always can, why there was a failure and hence why there is a problem, the responsible parties may not want to accept that their at fault. For these reasons it is absolutely imperative the installers of commercial carpet are continually trained and updated on new products and the technologies which they may have. It’s not always wise to trust past years of experience. In fact, as you seen in these couple of cases, experience was of no help whatsoever. The information is always available from somewhere. We’re usually a good place to find it if you can’t.
Author – Lewis G. Migliore – The Commercial Flooring Report
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts