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To make clean-up easier on your
knee-kicker, try stretching a nylon stocking tightly over the
head of the kicker (gripper pins will protrude). To clean
simply pull the stocking off and all the fibers will come with
it. When stretching-in an extra long room of
carpet (as in a basement situation) that has exposed pole
supports, it would be helpful to use a two-headed power
stretcher. By using a two-headed power stretcher it stretches
evenly away from the pole and doesn’t put the carpet “in a
bind” around the pole. A couple of simple (and common sense) tips
include laying a sheet of plastic under your roll of carpet in your
truck or van to make the task of unloading it much easier by allowing it
to slide out instead of dragging, or binding and using lemon oil to wipe
down the wooden base after an installation to help get rid of the minor
"white" scratches carpet backing usually inflicts. When
installing carpet with white painted base, if you get a slight scuff
(which is almost inevitable) you can use "white-out" to touch
up the base. To any non-typists this product can be found at a very
reasonable price where office supplies are sold. It is a must to know what kind of carpet and backing you are dealing
with in order to make sure you make a profit and accurate bid on a
carpet job. An example would be a Unitary-backed carpet. It must have a
premium grade adhesive, a heavier notched trowel, and it must be rolled
twice (the first time immediately after installation and the second time
three to twelve hours later). Therefore, much more time as well as more
money for the adhesive is involved. A possible way to make more money on every job is to offer the
customer an extended labor warranty. You would be surprised how many
people are willing to pay for the added protection. They've already
spent a lot of money and want to protect their investment. Another way to place seam tape under the two pieces of carpet to be
seamed is to lay both pieces side by side (almost, but not quite
touching), insert your seam tape under the seam at one end and use your
awl to drag the seam tape the length of the seam. As most vinyl composition
tile setters know, they can use their 12” tile as a template when
cutting their border tiles in a square layout.
It’s a whole different story on a diagonal layout.
You will have to make a square template out of sheet goods,
hardboard, or metal and cut it to the diagonal width of the tile being
installed. (For example a 12” x 12” tile, the measurement is
approximately 17” By spraying a dry silicone
lubricant on your loop pile cutter, it will allow the cutter to glide
through the carpet rows much more smoothly, especially on a hot-melt
backing. A hot-melt backing usually "gums up" the cutter.
Remember that it must be a "dry" silicone lubricant. Do you know how to make a chalk line last, and last, and last? Try
substituting baby powder for white chalk. It's helpful to put double-face tape on the floor under the toe kick
to help secure the tackless strip while you're nailing it to a concrete
floor. When installing a piece of carpet using z-bar instead of another type
of carpet bar and you don't have a z-bar carpet trimmer, you can use a
scrap piece of z-bar as a guide to trim the carpet. Install the z-bar as
normal. Then take the scrap piece of z-bar, making sure to turn it
around backwards, insert it where the carpet would normally be tucked.
Use the back edge of the z-bar as a straight edge to trim the excess
carpet. This will leave just the right amount of carpet to be tucked. Have you ever noticed how your carpet knife and wall trimmer blades
seem to "dull" a lot quicker on certain types of carpet or
backing (i.e. hot melt backing)? A simple solution to this problem is to
spray your blades with dry silicone before using them. Not only will the
blades glide through the carpet, but they will also last longer. "Row cutting" some "straight-rowed" berbers can
be difficult from the front side because the yarn falls over on itself.
This makes it hard to part. Sometimes it is easier to cut the row from
the reverse side of the carpet. You can use a dull flat-headed
screwdriver to help find the rows from the back. Simply run the
screwdriver down the reverse side of the carpet and it will naturally go
into the groove (row) and mark it for cutting. Then just run your cutter
along that row from the back. Usually when installing carpet on "waterfall" steps, you
can either place tackstrip next to the wall, or turn under the edge of
the carpet to make a more "plush" look. Some carpets are hard
to turn, because they are so stiff. You can use the screwdriver method
(similar to that listed above) to score the edge to be turned and thus,
make a nicer fold. If you're using conventional strip cutters, they are designed to cut
up to 1" wide tackless strip. When the job calls for 1 ¼"
strip you would normally have to buy wider cutters. In order to use the
cutters you already have to cut this wider strip, simply turn the blades
around in the cutters, which gives you approximately ¼" extra
length. (More and more installers are using the new 1 ¼" wide
tackless strip with three rows of pins instead of double-stripping or
using architectural strip.) If you've ever had a job where the customer wanted you to remedy a
lightweight perimeter glue-down vinyl (such as Interflex) that has
shrunk away from the wall, there is hope. You may be able to use your
power-stretcher to stretch the vinyl back in place. The teeth of the
power-stretcher head need to be covered with a ¼" piece of
Masonite secured with duct tape. Cover the bottom of the piece of
Masonite with strips of double-faced tape. This will allow the
power-stretcher head to be secured to the vinyl so that it may be
stretched. However, before attempting to stretch the vinyl you must
apply heat (use a hair dryer instead of a heat gun or torch, because too
much heat will ruin the vinyl). Heat will make the vinyl expand and
stretch easier. Fasten the vinyl next to the wall as you normally would
with either glue or staples. In small bathrooms, especially ones with a lot of irregular cuts to
make, you would normally install your underlayment, prep it, and install
your vinyl. To save a lot of time measuring, marking, and dry-fitting
your underlayment, cut your vinyl first and lay that on top of the
underlayment using the vinyl itself for a pattern. One way of cleaning your trowel is to cut a one and one-half to two
inch slit in the top edge of the adhesive bucket. Insert your trowel and
scrape the adhesive off the trowel and into the bucket. It will scrape
your trowel virtually clean. SEAMING SOFTBAC. . . There are some things to look for when estimating a vinyl
installation job over an existing vinyl flooring. New underlayment must
be installed if: All door jams must be undercut for a professional-looking job. Make sure there is base-shoe everywhere it is needed. Be sure to check to see if the customer now has floor protectors on their tables and chairs. Never move appliances or heavy furniture on the vinyl without at least ¼ inch underlayment or equivalent underneath them. This will prevent damage to the vinyl. All vinyl flooring must be acclimated before installing. Even though some installers take shortcuts and get "lucky", there are NO exceptions when installing perimeter vinyl. Shortcuts taken in acclimation with perimeter vinyl can result in wrinkling which will not come out. To prevent a “ridge line” from showing through a piece of vinyl (especially a light-colored high-gloss vinyl) there are a couple of things you can do. Fold back the vinyl and spread the adhesive. After sufficient open time is allowed for the adhesive, walk down and roll the sheet vinyl. When rolling the vinyl be sure to stop approximately 6 inches short of the glue line. By doing this it will allow you to fold back the other side farther than if you had rolled all the way to the glue line. The most important part is not to over-lap the adhesive at the glue line when spreading. (Overlapping is what causes the “ridge-line” in the vinyl.) When you have a long glue
line, such as a piece of 6 ft.- wide inlaid vinyl, you can LIGHTLY mist
the adhesive at the glue line with water.
This will extend the open time on your adhesive. To prevent air bubbles from
forming under sheet vinyl when installing over concrete, you simply give
your adhesive more open time than normal.
This allows the gases to flash off instead of being trapped under
the vinyl. (When installing
over wood flooring the adhesive can also dry through the floor so the
gases are not trapped. This
is not the case with concrete.) Another
big help is when walking down the vinyl, use a wide push broom to push
out any trapped air before actually “walking” on the vinyl that you
have glue. Using CAUTION TAPE alone to keep people from walking on freshly glued
flooring doesn't always work. On a job I once did at a church, I had
just finished a large set of stair treads and risers. I put CAUTION TAPE
at both the top and the bottom of the stairs. Minutes later a little
girl was seen coming down the stairs. When asked if she had seen the
CAUTION TAPE she replied, "Yes, and I was being really, really
cautious!" Needless to say, from that point on I always add warning
signs, such as: WET ADHESIVE UNDER FLOOR - KEEP OFF! To increase the shelf life of your adhesives, store the buckets
upside down. This keeps the seal airtight. Warning! Check to make sure
the lids are on tight before doing this. To keep the carpet from shifting when tubing back glue down carpet to
spread the adhesive stay nails are sometimes used. The gripper half of a
Velcro strip can be used instead of the stay nails. Use the Velcro
strips to hold one piece of carpet to the other to keep it from
shifting. This is especially helpful on concrete floors. Want to save a little time
when applying cove base? Instead
of using contact cement on your difficult wrap-around outside corners,
try using exterior grade double-faced carpet tape.
This saves the drying time, as well as the mess. Just remember
that you must use exterior grade tape. It is very important when grouting ceramic floor
tile to let the grout firm up before cleaning the film off the tile.
If you have wider joints that take longer to set up or are
concerned that the tile won’t clean up well if you wait, try “blanketing”.
Use a wet (but well wrung) towel and drag it diagonally across
the face of the tile. The
wet towel will clean the face of the tile and float over the joints
without disturbing them. It
is also very important to have the towel wrinkle-free and flat to clean
the face of the tile properly. An easy way to be sure your towel stays wrinkle-free and flat is to roll the edge of the towel over a broom handle and pull towel with that. Rob Henry, CFI # 3828 An
installer would usually apply a bead of liquid nail (or that type of
adhesive) with a caulking gun on the floor the full length of the glue
down carpet bar. Place the carpet bar into the adhesive, and roll
it with a hand roller to get complete transfer of the adhesive. However,
if you then gently lift the bar up and lay it on it's side, allowing for
flashing of the adhesive and then reapply it with the roller, it is a
much stronger bond. The bar should never come off the floor if done like
this. To insure that it will not come up, use a hammer drill to install
up to three anchors per bar. In
a home or anywhere there are several rooms coming off a main hallway,
completely install the hallway first. In most cases the hallway must be
done first anyway, especially with patterned goods. But, if you
completely install the hallway first, it will save you "down
time" by allowing you to have several work areas ready at the same
time and your whole crew can be kept busy. If the carpet is out of the industry's tolerances
in bow, skew, and pattern elongation, etc. it doesn't necessarily mean
it cannot be installed properly. It will, however, take a lot more time
and effort. By talking with the retailer and the manufacturer
suggestions can be made to stop further delays or problems with the job
and compensation for the installer can be agreed upon. For an example:
The bow is out of tolerance, but only on the very ends of the carpet. If
you have enough carpet to cut it back to the next pattern you can
eliminate the "scalloped" look in the pattern when installed. Most installers make a pattern or a template when
installing vinyl composition tile around a floor drain or just cut into
the tile. A much easier way is to simply coat the rim of the drain with
chalk or pencil lead, place the piece of tile gently over the drain and
when you lift it up the exact pattern you need is marked on the reverse
side of the tile. Then, all you have to do is heat the tile and cut. Unsightly gaps can appear as
you tuck a straight row berber carpet into the gully between the
tackless strip and the wall.
To prevent this from happening, pull the yarn in the row closest
to the wall. This will
leave you extra backing to tuck and the row won't break off as easy. In reference to the problem
listed above, you can also set the tackless strip closer to the wall.
This will cause the gully to become smaller, preventing the rows
in the carpet from breaking open. Always be sure to stuff a rag down the flange opening after a toilet is removed. This not only prevents the escape of sewer gas, but can also save you dollars! A couple of weeks ago, I was installing vinyl in a bathroom on a residential job, and I did not stuff the flange. Needless to say, I am now short one good Armstrong vinyl knife. This wouldn’t have upset me so, but you see, I had done this once before about nine years ago. At that time I was fortunate enough to have a 4-year old son that I could coax (with a little effort and using a piece of candy for bribery) into putting his “spindly” little arm down into the flange to retrieve my tool. This time however, my little boy is now almost 13 years old. He no longer has arms small enough to do such a job, and I’m sure not even bribing him with money would convince him to put his arm in such a place! A good installer should
always learn from his mistakes. If you don’t have an “anti-sway
kit“ for your stretcher tubes, you simply place your stretcher poles
through a cardboard carpet tube. Since these tubes are at least 12’ long, they help keep
your stretcher tubes from swaying. Re-bond pad, will
occasionally have a foreign object such as a small piece of hard plastic
embedded in it (causing an annoying “squeak” or hard spot usually
undiscovered until the carpet is completely installed), there is
something you can do besides take the whole piece back up.
You can use a very small sharp awl to alleviate this problem.
Simply part the carpet fibers and insert the tip of the awl
through the backing and into the “hard spot” of the pad and work it
around until it is loosened. Save your fingers by holding
short concrete nails between the teeth on an ordinary pocket comb. |
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