20 years of doing seams wrong until a customer's labrador retriever showed me the light

I was installing some berber in a house last Tuesday, nice place over in Arlington. Lady had this big yellow lab that kept sniffing around my tools. I'm joining two pieces and the dog steps right on the seam tape before I get the roller on it. Sticks just fine anyway. That got me thinking, you know? I always thought you had to roll seams immediately or the glue dries up. Turns out if you let the tape tack up for like 60-90 seconds before pressing, the bond is actually way stronger. Tried it on the next room and the seam practically disappeared. Did I miss this in training or was nobody talking about it? Anyone else ever have a random moment like that where an animal or something totally changed how you work?

2 comments

2 Comments

felixw681mo ago

Let the tape sit for a full minute before you put the seam down. I've been doing carpet for 15 years and I never tested it because the old timers said roll it hot. But once you let that glue set up a bit, the seam holds tight and doesn't ghost. I had a similar thing happen when a homeowner's kid spilled a soda on a piece of backing while I was stretching. Let it dry and it actually stuck better than when I'd been trying to mate wet edges together. Now I always give the tape those extra seconds. The dog did you a favor.

jennifersmith1mo ago

Oh man, that reminds me of a buddy's cat that sat on his blueprint and he found a better layout.