Hope this helps some...
BrianM writes:
When installing any pattern goods, I don't care if it's sheet vinyl, rug or tiles with a design/pattern you need to work in one direction from a center point or starting point without leaving any "gaps" in the middle. You can't just run around doing rooms willy-nilly and expect somehow the pattern will work itself out where the flooring all meets up eventually. That's a pretty typical rookie mistake.
Contiguity.
That's kind of a big word but it applies to this issue. When the dude laid a closet with pattern goods that wasn't in any way contiguous with the rest of the installation he set himself up for a "monkey match." In other words had he done the center piece first or second he could easily align the pattern. By skipping over to the closet he was just guessing, if he even did guess where the design features in that pattern need to be. So then he fought and fought to get the pattern on in all directions. I can't tell you how many times I run into this.
Just last week I was doing a couple thousand yard carpet square job with a pattern tile that we're quarter turning. The job ran in 8 phases/nights. The first night we lay a couple hundred yard on one corner of the building and the second night they wanted to lay the opposite corner of the job over 100' away. Now with tiles and SOME patterns you can clip back the tile and meet in the center. But I had to make sure I got the quarter turn right as well. Took me an extra hour of snapping lines to make it work. I sure wish they had asked me how to run the sequence of the phases. I can't believe the wanted to jump around like that and no one caught the hassles they were creating for the installer.
==
Daris M writes:
|
I also agree with Brian. Start your main piece and continue from there. Also if it was a lattice type of pattern he may have been off pattern which I suspect as one piece of the lattice will duck under the other and one doesn't. You have to study the pattern very close at times. I've had it be one yarn difference that made the pattern.
Sounds like an amature move to me.
I did a funeral home in a pattern wool, 3/4 carpet, where they made us jump across the main entry and start across that. Stretch in wilton. We worked for hours trying to figure where the pattern would hit on the other side. Still missed it by inches.
Daris
|
==
Darren R. writes:
Even if there wasn't a pattern, it is never a good idea to start on the outside walls and work to the middle. Decide which piece needs to go in first, and then every other piece needs to come off of that. Berber needs to be installed the same way pattern or not. Otherwise you will end up with your rows not being straight to each other.
I run in to this situation too often. Usually when a customer wants to move their own furniture and decides with the help of a salesman to do the bedrooms off of the hallway first.
As for burning a long seam with a pattern. Line up the pattern in the middle of the seam and seam to the end one direction then go back and do the other. Depending on how bad the pattern is off, you may need to stay nail it at the center and stretch the short side up until it matches. Some patterns are too inconsistent even for that too work, and you can only line up a small section at a time, stay it off and stretch again. A Koolglide iron makes patterns like those much easier to deal with, as you can just spot seam it every so often down the length of the seam, then come back and get the rest once the pattern is aligned.
Most diamond patterns are pretty easy to install, at least you can see them. Patterns get a lot trickier when it is some subtle white on white cloud pattern with nothing that really jumps out at you as a reference point to even cut on. I swear all of that stuff is being designed by someone that never got over a bad relationship with an installer and is taking it out on all of us.
==
Polestretch writes:
Second, When working with patterns you must first determine what the length and width match are. Sometimes on harder to find patterns, I will mark the pattern with painters tape. That way you know exactly where match is. You must always start in the center and work out whether it is laying out shots or seaming. This is not for a beginner, I was laying carpet for 15 years before starting to feel comfortable with any kind of pattern.
==
Rusty B. writes:
I did 10-20 houses a year for a flipper, for 10 years, using only diamond pattern berber. I did kitchens, baths everything in the same carpet. Patterened carpet installation is not for an amateur. Many times the pattern can run off 2-3 inches in 20'. Stretching that up, stay-nailing etc. is one of the most difficult things for an installer to learn. It is much easier with a Kool Glide, but still not for an amateur.
==
Sean M. writes:
Like they have all said, I don't even install a bit of material until I know how the pattern is going to fall. All main seams are made first, any "pre-stretch" past doorways or alcoves is done and then the last seams are made in those doorways.
If the person stretched one piece and then tried to seam another long piece to it it's just not going to work.
===
(Comments from www.thefloorpro.com)