Advice from carpet fitter please

modelreject

Hi,

We had a stair runner installed yesterday but I have issues with it. You can see some of the underlay when looking between stair spindles. It is also not very tight in places over tread.

My main concern however is the first step.
I can see why the fitter did it that way, because it is the natural flow of the material, but I was sure we could have it tacked below the bullnose and have another piece fit straight over front of step (a piece that is slightly wider than the main runner, to account for the angled step)?

Even better would have been to use a paper template?

It would be great to get advice from a fitter as we haven't paid yet and if this can be rectified and is possible we would like it done.

Many many thanks!
MR

Mr_Poves

The tightness of the carpet depends on what carpet and underlay has been used , it should be fairly tight though .
The visible underlay at the sides either mean he has not tacked the edges down , or the underlay has been cut too wide .
The bottom step I would not be happy with either , I can also see why he has done it to waterfall the step , but it really needs to be 2 seperate pieces with the riser straight , or it should have been cut to shape before being edged .
Is there any leftover runner ?
Is it a shop or independant fitter / supplier ?
It should really have been discussed beforehand as it's obvious to a fitter that it would be an issue , where you there when it was done ?
Ideally runners are cut to size and shape beforehand and then taken away to be edged .

modelreject

Thanks for that. Exactly what I thought.

It's a supplier who recommends fitters who work for them. There may have been something lost in translation. I was actually going to go up a few days before fitting to draw exactly what I wanted. Sadly I didn't. I chatted to a different company today and they said that they do a drawing of how it will look before getting the client's agreement to install. It's not every day you get carpet laid. In fact it's the first time I have gone through the process.

Even I know how I would have cut the carpet to get the desired effect. It doesn't look good and it's strange that he thought that that was okay.

I will call tomorrow and have a chat.

I think I have two options. Having a small second piece along the front step and tack the main runner under the bullnose. They would have to create a small section which is slightly wider and edge it though. There is some carpet left over. The only thing with that is that the waterfall effect will not be there on that step.

The second option, which is ideal, is to remeasure, cut to shape, edge and install.

I will see what they suggest.

Thanks again.

FreeBear

Quite frankly, the whole job looks sloppy all the way up - I wouldn't be happy with it.

modelreject

Hi FreeBear,

Could you tell me what else you see that looks sloppy from the picture? I need to get back to them today and if you see something else it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
MR

FreeBear

Bear in mind, this is my personal opinion and I'm not a carpet fitter - I like to see carpets fitted around the bullnose and not just draped over them. If this is the "in style", then it is not my cup of tea.

That aside, the bottom step certainly looks out of place with the rest of the stairs.

modelreject

Thanks Freebear. It's the waterfall method so that's fine. Thought you might have spotted something else.

Cheers

Slinky

Glad you raised this thread, I've never seen this 'waterfall' method and certainly wouldn't want it myself (sorry), so I'll bear in mind if we ever decide to get a stair runner.

Agree the bottom step looks very odd and I wouldn't be happy paying for it either.

modelreject

Ha ha. It's funny, the differing opinions. I wouldn't do it any other way. lol as I don't like the tacking of the carpet under the nose.

https://carpetworkroom.com/2016/03/08/hollywood-vs-waterfall/

tonyh66

not a fan of the waterfall method, hollywood all the way for me. The bottom step just looks amateur, waterfalls don't fall at 45 degrees....

modelreject

Same as stair rod method without the chunk of metal, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/515db129e4b0daad6e7a3422/t/5368fe9ee4b041ee304f0e12/1399389857579/?format=1500w