placement of seams in new carpet install

[katie]

Hello! We are preparing to have carpet installed in a finished basement living room that's roughly 19' x 13'. There's a small rectangular tiled area in one corner where two doors swing open, but otherwise the room is a rectangle.

Apparently the carpet we've selected is 12' wide, which may be an awkward size for a 13' wide room. We got the floorplan from the carpet installer and they appear to be suggesting running the carpet in the direction such that the 12' width leaves a 1' strip along the long wall. The diagram appears to be using three strips (cut from the area with the tile in the corner) to fill in along the long wall. There will also be a seam running the opposite direction a few feet from the shorter wall.

I'm not wild about so many seams - seems like a recipe for disaster? Is this actually how it should be done, the most economical way, or a bad idea regardless? Am I better off starting my search again for something that comes in a 15' width?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Floorist]

You could go with 2 12x13s and just have one seam. You would have a lot of waste. The main thing I don't agree with is the seam across the end of the room. It is not unusual to have a 1' wide fill piece in 3 pieces.
How many total feet are they suggesting? I would probably, depending on the setup, want to use a 12x19 and only have the fill seam.
Can you post a picture or diagram?

 

[Floorist]

A 15' x 19' would be great but would have some excess.

 

[katie]

Thanks for the info! I should have attached a photo the first time... hopefully I can figure out how. This is the floor plan we got from the installer. I’d love to know your thoughts.

I really don’t want to pick out a whole new carpet so we can get the 15’ foot width after finally deciding on one... but if I had to, I would.

 

[highup]

.....and unless the installer in incompetent, seams don't fall apart. Seams are stronger than the carpet.
Invisible seams are what everyone hopes for, but depending on the carpet type, some seam visibility may occur. I'm assuming there will be some furniture?
I'd rather have seams 1 foot out from the wall than across the room. The seam will probably be closer to 15 inches from the wall by the time it's trimmed.

 

[katie]

Now that I'm looking at it again, i think I misunderstood it the first time. There may not be a seam across the front of the room after all! The faint dotted line didn't look so faint on my phone screen and I didn't see the difference.

 

[katie]

Regarding furniture - yes, there is actually a good amount of furniture on the wall that would have the 1' wide strips. That's good, since it'll largely be covered by a couch - but is there any concern about the weight of the furniture on the narrow strip or seam?

 

[Floorist]

With no cross seam it looks good. A properly made seam is the strongest part of the job.

 

[katie]

Thank you - that's a relief. I appreciate your information so much!

 

[Floorist]

You are welcome. Let us know how it comes out.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Looks good to me. You will even have some left over. I'd say the person who did the lay out knew what he was doing by no more that 3 pieces to make up the fill.

Daris