The carpet pad thickness chart I found changed how I bid jobs

I was digging through some manufacturer spec sheets last Tuesday, just trying to double check a density rating for a commercial job in Spokane, and I stumbled onto a chart that showed how much pad thickness affects seam visibility. Turns out, going from 7/16 to 1/2 inch on a low pile carpet can make seams show up way more, even if you stretch it perfectly. That explains a few callbacks I had last year where customers swore they could see lines in a hallway, and I kept blaming the carpet itself. I always assumed thicker pad meant softer feel and hid more, but it's actually about the face weight and how the backing grips the pad. I've been using the same pad specs I learned from my old boss for 8 years, and now I'm second guessing every single residential estimate. Any of you guys actually adjust your pad choice based on the carpet style, or just stick with what you've always used?

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robert6423d ago

That Spokane chart sounds real nice on paper, but 7/16 to 1/2 is a 1/16 difference. Come on. Half the time the pad rolls sit in a hot truck for a week and compress down before you even staple them, so whatever the spec sheet says is out the window by install day. I've pulled up carpet where the pad flattened to nothing under a couch and the seams still looked clean, and I've seen pencil thin pad with lines you could trip on. The gap is the subfloor, the temperature, and whether the installer actually kicked it in tight, not 1/16 of foam. Blaming the pad is just a handy excuse to buy new spec sheets instead of admitting the stretch job was lazy.

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