butchered seams - FROM EWF ROOM

[Luis Gomez]

I do reinstall and clean for a restoration company and their techs cannot cut straight. Can they use a steam irons to open the seams? or perhaps a regular iron with wet towels underneath?. How are your techs doing this without damaging the carpets? thank you for your responses.

 

[windmarkbob]

Re: butchered seams

On a cut pile carpet our technicians use a crochet hook to spread the fibers then use a fresh blade to cut the seam. They also do not cut at an existing seam, but cut 2-3" to either side of it.

Mr. Coffee

 

[Jack May]

I've put a copy here for our guys to check out too.

John

 

[Stevea]

Luis,

First off, while many will use a Steam Iron with a towel to open seams, unless you are doing this on woven goods, someone will damage the carpet and cause de-lamination.

A lot of the time, the problem with opening an existing seam, has to do with the poor way in which it was first put together. In our industry Installation is the number one complaint people have and the main point of contention has to do with seams. So this is a problem almost all of the time. Without going into a lot of why and what is not done or done improperly, what is important is to understand what is there and how to work with it.

This requires learning a good method of opening the seam, trimming it if needed and then knowing how to manipulate and work the seam. Actually this is fairly simple and even if the seam is 'butchered', one like yourself, can put it back together so that it looks good.

Even if someone opens the seam improperly and hacks it all up, you can often do wonders with it if you can learn how to control the situation as well as manipulate the seam where you want it to go. As my friend Tony often says, one has to 'Think outside of the box'.

Here is a little clip showing when the seam is 'peaked' it makes it very easy to cut the old tape and not the carpet, which if it is not peaked can be a little difficult for some.


Here is a clip showing how to take a 'butchered' seam and manipulate it to make it move where you want but also this allows you to control what you are doing. Notice only a small portion of this seam is being worked and pulled together, this was a very rough edge and had 3/4" gap to pull, but it can be done fairly easily


Your job is to learn some method you are comfortable with and either teach them how to properly open a seam, which will probably never happen, or you simply learn to manipulate a seam properly and control how you put it back together. This can be done even with some horrible seams. But save yourself some trouble and do not have them open seams with a steam iron.

Others made some suggestions that should work for you also.

I look at situations like this and consider it job security as well as a door opener.

SA

 

[Harry Myers]

You could also reheat it from the back just enough heat to get the glue melted. Too much heat can also delaminate the backing or distort it. So you can charge for re doing the seam and also stretching it back in.

 

[Stevea]

Harry makes a very good point, thank you for adding this Harry.

Here is a little clip showing one way of what Harry was talking about


SA

 

[The Great Oz]

I always cut a seam like Steve showed, but used a hook knife and cut it from the underside.

 

[Warren Wallace]

Why not use an awl and then a top cutter?

 

[John Watson]

In the early 80's When we used to pull all the carpets and take to the shop to dry we were natorious for buchering seams. Our Carpet Mechanic Richard Pimentel aka "Indian" not only cussed some of my guys but even came back to the shop one day to find out who slice n diced this perticular job. When the guy came in Indian hit him and then took him to our local Butt bar for another evening of entertainment. The next day Indian brought in 4 hook knives like Brian just showed. He also brought in the sharpening stone.
He taught my crew like SA said peak it if you can, cut it from the back, Keep your knife sharp and it can be put back "manipulated" (Gotta love that term) to an acceptble level.

He then taught a course on how to sharpen a hook knife and keep it razor sharp..