Trimming woven seams

highup · 2025-01-08T00:33:00-0500

Well, it got to late to start putting them together, so for tonight I left it as is. Everything sealed up but I want to stretch and stay tack the carpet into alignment before seaming it together.
The 6 foot wide fill piece on the far side is in alignment with the nearest 7 feet of carpet. The near side starts bowing left about 3/4 inch at that point.
I've got a lotta sheetrock nails to stretch and hold it straight. Might be able to straighten it later but taking no chances.
I finished up the day by pulling rows and sealing the closet fill and the closet doorway
I'll trim and edge seal those first, then attack the long seam and start stretching.
It's a total breeze getting a seam ready to go if you can cut farther into the carpet edge. Pulling rows on the edges and the factory seam locations really sucks.
I was going to ever do lightly do a quick thermo seal on the latexed seam edges but I left the glue gun and tips at home today

If there are any issues with a seams edge gap, a tiny film of thermo can assist to bring the pile together.
Oh well.... This room will be an education when doing the other 4 rooms.

Without further ado, here's what I'm stretching into alignment.
In the second image the two green dots closest to you are parallel with the wall.
So are the second two green dots. The area between the red dots need to be aligned with the others.

MSLI · 2025-01-08T07:41:55-0500

NICE progress Highup !

What a shame that a Carpet One Dealer is unable to procure Latex seam sealer, but kudos to you for adapting to the reality.

The factory/ Mill probably weave extra locking stitches to the ends / selvage for
Insurance purposes.

highup · 2025-01-08T10:57:36-0500

MSLI said:
NICE progress Highup ! What a shame that a Carpet One Dealer is unable to procure Latex seam sealer, but kudos to you for adapting to the reality.

The factory/ Mill probably weave extra locking stitches to the ends / selvage for
Insurance purposes.

It would be nice if they had a full inch of selvage color on each side and continued the exact same weave or structure as the rest of the carpet. I shouldn't have to wonder or question exactly where to cut. Zip it open at any point away from the edge and you can easily pull rows, chains and know exactly what you are doing.
Yeah, maybe they do it on the edges for more durability or insurance.
When I straighten that bow, I plan to pre stretch and additional 1/2 inch or so before seaming to mimic the finished stretch.
I may stretch the side opposite the seam to find out how much stretch I will actually get... That way I'll know how much to pre stretch the seam.
I didn't really want to start this job in the largest room, but I'm thinking it was the right choice because of the learning curve.
.........well, that, plus it's the only room that was ready for installation.

highup · 2025-01-08T11:13:48-0500

I recall setting the KoolGlide at its lowest setting on the golf course job but then changing it to the medium setting at some point for some reason the home is heated 24/7 and I raised the temp from 65 to 68 yesterday. I have 1/8 inch tempered hardboard under the seams. This is the same situation as at the golf course.
Koolglide is a low melt type tape. How does one determine the correct heat setting with this combo?

Wool carpet, 5/15 thick.
Heated home.
Wood floor construction.
Hardboard under seam.
My equivalent of the SeamerDown used, not a seam weight.

Maybe test a scrap piece on the high setting just for kicks to see how close that is to discoloring or destroying the carpet?
No, I'm not going to use the high setting.

I always have my infrared temp gun in the truck, so I can determine how hot the carpet surface gets, but I don't know how hot is too hot for wool..... It's a wool, nylon blend I think, 85/15 %, not sure.