What do you think of this workmanship?
boxbuilder
| Posted in General Discussion on
This carpet installer came highly recommended. The carpet we went with was a commercial carpet to withstand the abuse my dog puts out, so it may be harder to work with than typical carpet. But my stained and polyurethaned oak baseboards took a beating, and there are other problems too (besides my DIY’er finish carpentry). The silver lining here is that I haven’t paid for the installation yet. Should I demand a discount? Or am I being overly picky?
Replies
Generally doesn't look too good. Did they come highly recommended? What was your discussion with them before they started about being careful in your house?
Scratching the base is inexcusable, it's so easy to put a couple of layers of wide blue tape on before flopping the carpet.
I don't know if I would demand a discount. I would however tell the installer you would like the sloppy stairs fixed, that little patch is a joke first time you vaccum it will be lost. I have not seen a job were the base hasn't been roughed up, does that mean it's ok certainly not. If you have ever installed carpet you would know base, door jambs, walls are going to get damaged hopefully the carpet installer will try to minimize the damage. A little roughed base can be fixed but if it is a lot then tell him there needs to be a back charge to get that repaired.
Jeff
I'm gonna pretty much agree with the other posts. You have to expect some baseboard and wall damage with carpet install. As builders, we just suck it up and send the touch-up crew in afterward to deal with it. Yours does seem to be a excessive amount of damage compared to most of what I've seen. (I have seen worse, though). The staples, and imperfect trim on the stairs I wouldn't sweat if it were me. They're not so bad.
However, that pathetic attempt to hide their screwup (the patch) is inexcusable. That one they should be forced to re-do.
to me, the carpet work seems par for the course except that they were definitely careless about the surronding materials.
We use painted trim here, so we always do baseboards final coat last expecting it to get ruffed a bit, but that seems excessive. I have to ask, how many coats of poly did you have on it? Doesn't look like a full three coats to me.
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I would have been inclined - from what experience I've had with installers - to remove the basebds first. Tricky, I know, but the guys i've dealt with prefer not to tuck under if they can help it. Inevitably there'll be marks on walls (or stringers), but this looks worse than I've ever seen. But what's it take to be a carpet layer...? One criterion seems to be the ability to consume alcohol prior to - and during - work!
Get it redone where poss, go for discount and express dissatisfaction where-else. Report to the BBB or similar. I'd go back if I'd made some of theose errors...
All the best...
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.
The dinged sheetrock and the little patch on the stairs are not good. Especially the patch.
But other than that, you should thank him for giving you the opportyunity to properly re-do the baseboards. That must have been an awful thin coat of poly to scratch like that. And the open miters at the outside corners need some work. And the puttied nail holes ... looks like someone use common nails rather than finish nails.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Ouch fastEddie, those comments hurt.
I have to admit, I was thinking the same thing.
If the paint and varnish is fairly fresh, it's going to scratch easy. Since it is fresh, it will also touch up very easily too.
It'll be faster to touch all that stuff up than to drive to the store to argue.
I would get that one riser replaced where they cut it short.
blue
I'm not so sure those are scratches on the base, they look more like the latex glue from the back of the carpet, may wash off. Base looks like crap anyhoo, may have done a favor if they are scratches.....just an observation....and posted here, what else could anyone expect?
I take full responsibility for the carpentry. I had planned on touching up all the base, but now it looks like I have a lot more work to do. It was attached with a 15 gauge finish nailer. Up close it doesn't look so great but from a distance it doesn't bother me.The poly was 2 coats of spray-on, so yes it's thin. Now I have to figure out exactly how to fix it.One other mistake that you have to experience in person is that there's a nail or something between the carpet and the floor. You step on it in bare feet and you feel it.Thanks for all the feedback.
Yeah, I was probably a bit harsh ... sorry.
Is that a tack strip nail you're stepping on, or a loose nail in the middle of the floor? I would have the carpet installed dig it out so he can get the carpet back properly. You might aski him why he didn't vacuum before laying the carpet.
The putty holes probably look better in person. I know some of my pictures seem to make certain spots stand out.
I would slightly thin some poly, and brush on a thin coat wityh a good quality brush. Don't use fast-dry, and it should blend well.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I say you should invent a way to unroll carpet without scratching what ever it's next too!
if ya stopped crawling around on your belly with a camera looking any and every little scratch it'll free up the time you need.
Or ... call the carpet guy back ... give him your camera ... and let him crawl around the rest of your house and find all the other little scratches you never noticed or pretend aren't there ... because you just didn't have to write a check for them 5 minutes ago.
while you are inventing ... invent a way to carry a big fat roll of carpet thru a house and up some stairs ... without it touching any sidewalls. That'll be helpful too.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
What Buck would say.
A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of coloured ribbon. - Napoleon Boneparte
I was thinking along the same lines Jeff.
People always seem to want the impossible.
blue
Here is another thought:
The first pic shows a bare wood step with a note saying that it is to be refinished. I have always felt that the bare bottom step thing was a trip hazard - and have found this to be true from personal experience too. Maybe not to you - being the person who set it up that way, but to other users of the stairs. Basically what happens is that as someone descends the stairs and their foot hits the different surface texture of the bottom step an unconscious signal goes to the brain saying "I'm at the bottom" when in fact that is not true and the next step taken is then not expecting another riser - which results in a trip.
Also I'd like to know what the riser height is on the first step, 2nd step, etc.
BTW - The carpet work does look a little marginal - especially the patch. There always is some baseboard damage during carpet install, although that looks quite excessive. I have to wonder what the guy did to scratch the baseboard that badly - or maybe the finish was just that soft...?
Mark, that's an interesting point that I've never thought of-probably because I've never run into it.
blue
The vertical scratches on the stained base appear too regular to be tool marks. That means the cut edge of the carpet backing did the damage as it was pushed down and under the base.
The gaps under the base may be caused by the base being pre-installed too high for the thickness of the carpet used.
The lower the nap and denier of the carpet the harder it is to fit to exposed edges or corners. The repair piece would have looked and fit better if the installers had glued/taped in a larger piece instead of making do with a sliver.
Trim carpentry????
"The gaps under the base may be caused by the base being pre-installed too high for the thickness of the carpet used."Looks like an irregular subfloor along the base to me. High and low areas. That probably should have been addressed before the carpet installers arrived.
That probably should have been addressed before the carpet installers arrived.
Or perhaps the competent flooring installers would point out that the subfloor is substandard and that they couldn't install the finish materials until the floor was fixed?
blue
It looks like there is some slack in the carpet in the 2nd to last picture.Is that area loose? I don't lay carpet but I have helped to
bring it into a house or two. I found out the hard way that the backing when rubbed against a corner of a wall or on trim is like whacking it w/80 grit sandpaper ,very unforgiving. good luck george c.
It's not loose, but it does look rough.Thanks for the feedback.
Just had carpet installed un my newly finished attic. I don't think they scratched or nicked anything. Not even the wall going up the stairs. I was quite impressed.There are no electrons! It is all made up. Don't believe it.
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Just had our LR carpet replaced. Bunch of "kids" (ie, under 30 types) from the carpet store did it. They did what seems so far to be a good job and no dings anywhere that we've noticed.
However, I did notice that when they were working the edges they used a tool fairly "vigorously", sliding it up and down against the baseboard, to tuck the carpet edge back behind the tack strip. It didn't damage our baseboards but could have scratched some with a fairly soft finish.
happy?
Didn't notice your pictures right off. Looks like most of the scratches are due to the carpet backing scraping on the baseboard. This may be worse due to the specific type of carpet. Also, it kind of looks like that you have the carpet tucked under the baseboard vs just butted to it. If so, this is more difficult to manage and would make scratching more likely.
But all in all looks like a mediocre job at best.
happy?