Cushion Back Glueing Technique? (and other wierd things)

[Jordy Buck]

I just did my first job with cushion back. 50 yards on concrete. I trowled out regular brown carpet glue over all floor. I happened to talk with a builder today about it and he said I only needed to glue the edges and seams because that's all he's ever seen done on his jobs. I'm of the opinion the builder has used crappy carpet guys, but since I've no other experience with cushion back, I figured I'd ask what's common.
Two other questions:

How would you install it on a wooden stairway? I stapled it upholstered style and put some glue on the treads for additional support because I figured it'd come loose without some glue.

How would you attach a cushion back hallway to regular carpet-on-pad bedrooms? The customer was adamant against nail-down metal seam bars. I thought about doing a double glue down on the regular carpet in the bedroom doorway then just using contact cement to glue both ends together. I ended up using a little ramping to even the height difference, gluing down the seam tape, and running a regular hot seam. wasn't really sure and I'm certain the situation is out of CRI standards anyways. But, it sealed well and looks solid.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Years ago we used to cut the cushion off of the backing enough to insert seam tape and make the seam with the iron. Tedious job. Now you gluing the tape to the floor might create another problem as there is silicone in the paper of the tape and it will release causing a popping sound when stepped on. There is no real good solution short of turning and tacking the carpet to the cushion back, maybe using zbar and tackless also.

 

[highup]

I'd agree with Daris on the use of Z-bar. That might not be fun if there is previous seam there. You'd have to take off the seam tape, then when tucking into the Z-bar, apply heat with a hair dryer to make it flexible enough.

 

[highup]

Or, the customer might approve of a wooden transition instead of metal.