Seam rolling on a tight stair job took me 4 hours longer than I planned

I had this stair install last Thursday in a split level house over in Oakwood. The customer wanted a patterned carpet that had to match up perfectly at the seams on each step. I figured it would take me maybe 5 or 6 hours total for the whole set. But the pattern repeat was like 18 inches and the stairs were not exactly square, so I spent over 2 hours just getting the first three steps to line up without the pattern looking crooked. Then the seam roller I brought felt like it was slipping on the backing which made me redo two whole treads. By the time I finished it was almost 10pm and I started at 11am. Has anyone else had a pattern matching job on stairs turn into a nightmare like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

patwest7d ago

Oh man, that sounds like a real bear of a job. I feel your pain on those pattern matches, especially when the house isn't square to begin with. I've been there with a busy commercial pattern on a curved staircase once, and by the time I got the repeat figured out I wanted to throw the whole roll out the window. It's those little details like the seam roller slipping that just add insult to injury when you're already running late.

jesse_cooper7d ago

Man that pattern matching just kills your whole day when the stairs aren't square, right? I had one last month where I actually ripped up the same tread three times before I got it to look right and I wanted to kick my own tool bag across the room.