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I thought it might be fun to share some flooring stories. I have gone behind a local installer for 27 years. One of those guys who has "done it that way for 40 years" I will share some about him occasionally. I figure all of you have some stories.
 
I go out to measure a small living room. It is about 12 x 15. There is a fireplace in the middle on one side. On one side of it, the room is 11 6 wide, on the other 12 3. So I use the piece from one to fill the other. There are two doorways and they want metal in both of them. An ember fell out and put a small whole in the carpet, and the insurance is paying to replace it. Turns out it happened two years ago. I asked why she had waited. Said she did not want to be torn up for two days. Took the original installer two days to install a 12 x 15 with one three foot seam. (We all call him "turtle") I told her if it took me more than two hours, I would do it free. Took me about 45 minutes, had to refill my coffee a couple times. I will tell some more about "turtle" as the stories come to mind.
 
Another one that "turtle" did. Took him 8 hours to pad and install carpet in a 12x12 room, with the strip already down, no seams.

In one customer's house, he laid down in the floor in the middle of the afternoon and took a nap.
 
Turtle does not own a carpet trimmer and has never used one. He has no electric tacker. If he needs to put in a staple in anything, he hauls in an air compressor and uses an air stapler. He has never row cut a piece of carpet. He uses a piece of flat metal for a straight edge. He took three days to wrap a spiral staircase with about ten steps. I went out a week later and tore it off and did it right in 1/2 day.
 
When he worked for the housing authority, it took him two days to put 40 yards of carpet in a one br. over the old pad. They are two 12 x 15 drops that seam together In about a three foot spot.
I did the same apts. in about 90 minutes and there were guys who did them faster than me.
 
Turtle does not own a carpet trimmer and has never used one. He has no electric tacker. If he needs to put in a staple in anything, he hauls in an air compressor and uses an air stapler. He has never row cut a piece of carpet. He uses a piece of flat metal for a straight edge. He took three days to wrap a spiral staircase with about ten steps. I went out a week later and tore it off and did it right in 1/2 day.
I wrapped a spiral staircase in 5 days. $1500 Hey, I did 12 steps. :D Actually there were 24 in all. Stairs were notch into a white cedar tree trunk so all stairs were a different shape. Customer decided not to do the upper 12 stairs and I'm glad. This is the heaviest Berber I've ever installed. I think it came 15 feet wide.
Every step was patterned and once cut out, no further cutting was done when installing. The wall and trunk edges were sealed. My brother and I installed 2 sets of stairs like this about 25+ years ago, they were Berber too.. If each of us got 3 stairs completed per day we were doing really well.
 

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I wrapped a spiral staircase in 5 days. $1500 Hey, I did 12 steps. :D Actually there were 24 in all. Stairs were notch into a white cedar tree trunk so all stairs were a different shape. Customer decided not to do the upper 12 stairs and I'm glad. This is the heaviest Berber I've ever installed. I think it came 15 feet wide.
Every step was patterned and once cut out, no further cutting was done when installing. The wall and trunk edges were sealed. My brother and I installed 2 sets of stairs like this about 25+ years ago, they were Berber too.. If each of us got 3 stairs completed per day we were doing really well.
This was one of those manufactured sets with a wood tread to fasten the carpet on. It had wood showing in places when he got done.
 
I kind of did one like yours Hi but mine were actual logs with the bark still on them. Could only cover the tread so we turned the edge to follow the contour of the log where they cut it flat.. I was always asked how I got those fun jobs. But you know the answer to that.
 
I kind of did one like yours Hi but mine were actual logs with the bark still on them. Could only cover the tread so we turned the edge to follow the contour of the log where they cut it flat.. I was always asked how I got those fun jobs. But you know the answer to that.
I worked for one store where I did pattern match berber every day for a year. He said I was the only one who got it matched.
 
I kind of did one like yours Hi but mine were actual logs with the bark still on them. Could only cover the tread so we turned the edge to follow the contour of the log where they cut it flat.. I was always asked how I got those fun jobs. But you know the answer to that.
Never done bark, but that would be cool. (too see, not do :D) The same contractor has done 6 sets of white cedar tree stairways. My brother and I did two, and I've done two since then. We call em Barney stairs. I should have taken a photo looking straight up all 24 of them. I think this one took a 15 by 24 piece of carpet to keep the risers oriented the same.
 

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