Had a seam split open on a job last Tuesday, check your glue temp

I was finishing up a 12x15 bedroom in a house off Maple Street last week. Customer wanted a high pile carpet over concrete and I used a cool temp seaming iron like I always do. By Tuesday afternoon I get a call from the homeowner saying the seam popped open right in the middle of the room. Turns out the concrete slab was way colder than my iron could handle, so the tape never bonded right. Has anyone else had this happen or am I the only dummy who skipped checking the floor temp first?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_faith28d ago

Borrowed a buddy's temp gun after the same thing happened to me last year. Checked the slab before every job since then and it's made a huge difference. @cameronn62 you make a fair point about the tape going bad, but even fresh tape won't bond if the concrete is pulling all the heat out of your iron. I dropped my iron temp up 20 degrees and let the tape sit a few extra seconds before walking on it. Never had a seam pop since then.

rowanharris28d ago

Last winter I had a job where the slab was reading 38 degrees and I was fighting every seam. Dropped my iron to 320 and pressed each one for a solid ten seconds. Still had two pop by lunch. Sometimes the tape is fine, the technique is fine, and the concrete just doesnt want to cooperate. You can check batch dates all you want but if the substrate is pulling heat faster than the iron can put it in, youre fighting a losing battle.

cameronn6228d ago

Hold on a sec, are we sure this is that big of a deal? I mean yeah it sucks the seam popped, but was the tape actually bad or did you just not let it cool long enough before walking on it? I've had a few seams lift over the years and it was almost always me being impatient or the glue being old (you know, left in the truck overnight). Maybe check the tape's batch date before you go blaming the slab temp. Just saying, could be a simple fix.