Rugs, Carpets and Carpeting - New Berber Carpet seam stick out!

I just had new berber carpet installed in my basement. Looks great except I can easily see the seams. I asked the guy who installed it and he says he did the best he could. I can still see the seam especially in natural lighting. I can also see like waves in parts of the carpet even though the carpet seems well stretched in these places. Is this just a matter of letting the carpet settle or is this something I should have them look at again and have it fixed. The nap of the carpet looks to be matched correctly on the seams. Any suggestions?

Did this carpet come from a carpet store? Call them back to fix it. Tell them to send a crew that can install berber or you want a replacement.

Home Depot, you know they then sub out the carpet installation. I have the guy coming to check it out again next week. Not very happy about it either...

Berber weave carpet has to be cut along rows with row cutter to prevent raveling of carpet fibers along the cut. In addition to seaming tape, a seam sealer is applied like glue along the seam to assure a good seam and to further prevent raveling. There is not such thing as a completely invisible seam, but if the seams are as obvious as you describe then they will always be so unless corrected by reseaming, sealing with seam sealer, and restretching. Ask for a more experienced, preferably certified, installer to make the corrections.

Why are you unhappy that they're coming back out?

Many states, by law, have to give the original contractor first shot at making good on a repair claim before a different contractor is sent to fix it. So brace yourself because you may see the same installer on your doorstep. As a side note, not many qualified installers will work for the ammount paid by places like H-D

Do you see visible black lines as seams?

Or is the seam raised slightly, and when light strikes across it you can see the hump?

Or does it look like the pieces on opposite side of the seam are 2 different shades of carpet?

The seams were very visible in natural light and they looked as you described "raised slightly". The installer came back today and tried to fix the seams. They look better now but are still real noticeable in natural light. I am now turning to Home Depot to get this resolved. They told us to sit tight for 3 weeks to let the carpet settle/stretch?????

That is a normal characteristic of a properly stretched carpet.

Take a rubberband and cut it into two pieces.

Take a piece of scotch tape and place it sticky side up on a table.

Take the two ends and as if splicing them push them into the sticky on the tape really good.

Pick up the loose ends of the rubberbands, and pull slightly. Notice the area where the tape is holding the rubberband. See how it is raised.

There are things like thremo seam sealing and 6" wide seaming tape that will reduce what your seeing, but it is not the fix all.


The guys that ride knee kickers never have this complaint, but they get the restretch complaints.

I'll say it again... It is a normal, common characteristic of a seamed and stretched flat face carpet, like a loop pile berber.

Wow, not the answer I was expecting. Seems to me (no pun intended...) that for the price of the special order berber carpet that they should be able to make seams invisible. Had I known this I would not have purchased berber. Funny how they don't tell you this when they sell it to you isn't it?

It is not the end of the world. Your carpet problem can be fixed and its not that difficult.

What did your installers do fo try to fix the seams?

I just had berber installed a few days ago and noticed the same thing, (i.e. a bump in the seam in natural light). I didn't really think it was a problem until I read this post. Overall, I'm pretty satified with the job.
Should I pursue this? Didn't sound like chopper33 got a fix.
-jasper

A somewhat noticeable hump where the seam is at in natural light is common for certain types of carpet. If a sales person told you seams would be invisible, take it up with the salesman/woman, not the installer. Not knowing the layout of the rooms installed it's hard to say, but being that natural light is a seam's worst enemy, carpet is usually laid out so seams run perpendicular (towards) any major natural light sources instead of across (parallel) a window/door/doorwall/etc. to cut down on any shadows it will cast across the seam, thus reducing the "hump" effect.

The reason HD might have mentioned to wait a couple weeks is once the carpet has blossomed, the hump of the seam might not be as noticeable. Carpet comes in big rolls weighing hundreds of pounds usually. By blossom I mean from being rolled up the nap of the carpet is somewhat crushed. After it's acclimated to the temperature of the house and laying flat, you'll see the loops lift up more. Hope this helps put your minds at ease a little bit. Take care.

matt