Carpet Seam

[MikeL]

I have carpet which is pretty old and not able to replace at this time. At a place where 2 pieces butt together, I was told it could not be seamed, so I bought a track at Lowe's, but it didn't seem to be very wide and when I put it over the seam and nailed it, I had to hit the nail so hard to keep the track to the floor, that it actually looked like a 'wrinkled' piece of metal when I finished. What did I do wrong? I'm thinking maybe the track was to be used on linoleoum and not carpet. It seemed the nails were not long enough to not have to drive the track closer to the carpet and for it to stay. thanks for any suggestions Mike

[Joe]

Sounds like you are way overmatched trying to do the seam splice. Call on one of your local carpet stores and chat with the staff technicians. It may cost less than you think to have someone do it right.

Joe

[jamesgangnc]

Get some longer nails for your strip.

[Tony]

If you look in a sewing dept. you can find some heavy needles in the shape of a half circle. Carpet is often sewn together with that and some real heavy thread.

And yes, the piece you bought isn't worth crap. Most of them are far too soft flimsy aluminum. Maybe a carpet installation company could supply a stronger one?

[aemeijers]

Some tacks and a decorative area rug. Or if there is a real wood floor under there, rip the carpet up and throw it away. A beat up wood floor beats worn-out carpet any day, IMHO.

[Oren]

What kind of backing on the carpet? Rubber, jute (sp)??

I've not seen any carpet that cannot be seamed. Is there a tear at the present seam, is there a pattern to match up? What kind of floor, wood or concrete? These things matter.

Post a photo some place and post the link here. Even a link for the metal you used.

[MikeL]

I really appreciate everyone's suggestions, thank you very much.

I had a "handyman" say it couldn't be seamed. I had a guy at Lowes say that if you can hold up the carpet w/ it seamed, you should have enough to do a new seam....

I'm having a carpet installer company coming to do the repair.

thanks again for all of your help!

ML