Vent: Everyone loves patterned carpet but I think it's a nightmare to install

I was at a job site in Phoenix last week and the homeowner insisted on a busy floral pattern that took me twice as long to match. Am I the only installer who thinks solid colors look cleaner and save way more time?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscar7431mo agoMost Upvoted

You've got my sympathy on that one. Had a job last month where the pattern was supposed to repeat every 12 inches, but the dye lot was off by a quarter inch, so I spent half the day cussing at seams. Solid carpets are like a vacation for installers, you just roll and go. Plus busy patterns hide dirt, sure, but they also hide when you mess up a seam a little bit. Sometimes I wonder if homeowners just like to watch us suffer for the extra labor charge.

ryan3691mo ago

Bet they'll pick something with a nap you can see the vacuum lines in next time just to show off.

joseph_ellis8524d ago

Did I ever tell you about the time I installed a pattern so wild it looked like a circus threw up on the floor? Honestly I spent more time staring at seams and trying to figure out which way the flowers were supposed to point than actually rolling the carpet out. Solid colors are definitely the way to go, they make me feel like I actually know what I'm doing instead of guessing where the repeat lands. At least with a busy pattern I can hide my mistakes better, but then again the homeowner is paying me extra to be a professional pattern matcher not a magician. Maybe I should just start telling people I charge by the headache instead of the square foot.