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Remember when you could just roll out a big sheet of carpet padding?

Now every job seems to need that 6-foot wide stuff with the red plastic backing. I saw the difference on a re-stretch in my old neighborhood, the new pad kept the seams from telegraphing after just a year. What's the best way you've found to seam that modern stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

parkerb231mo ago

Man, my first attempt at seaming that red-back stuff looked like a topographical map of bad decisions. Ended up using a stupid amount of seam tape and a heat gun on low, just creeping along. The key is getting that plastic backing to melt together without turning into a gooey mess.

hunt.ben1mo ago

Oh man, that red plastic backing can be a real pain to work with. Parker's heat gun method is solid advice, but it takes a light touch for sure. In my experience, a sharp blade and a straight edge are just as important as the tape to keep things lined up before you seal it. That stuff wants to slip around if you don't get it locked down first.

nina_harris391mo ago

My old foreman used to say the red backing needs to treat you like it's scared of you. He'd mark a center line with a silver sharpie on both pieces before anything else, line those up perfect under the tape. The heat just follows the path you already set. I saw him do a fifty foot seam once that was basically invisible. It's all in the prep work, way more than the heat.