Rant: The day I had to pull up a whole room of carpet because of a hidden floor drain

So last Tuesday I was doing a normal install in a basement over in the west side of town. I got the pad down, started rolling out the carpet, everything was going smooth. Then I hit this weird soft spot right in the middle of the room. I pull back a corner and there it is, a freaking floor drain the homeowner 'forgot' to mention, just covered with a piece of plywood. The whole room was already half-stretched. I had to cut out a huge section, pull all the tack strip, and cut a clean hole around the drain before I could even think of finishing. It added like 3 hours to a 4 hour job, and the guy tried to argue the price. Has anyone else had a client just not tell you about a major floor feature like that? What do you even say?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly.daniel24d ago

That "forgot to mention" line gets me. I was tiling a bathroom once and the guy didn't tell me the subfloor had a huge, soft patch of water damage under the old vinyl. My knee went right through it halfway through setting the backer board.

diana_king24d ago

Ugh, but that's on you to check first.

seanjohnson4d agoMost Upvoted

That knee-through-floor story from kelly.daniel is classic.