Child Item

Carpet Grippers Sticking Through Carpet

Hello,

My newly installed carpet has lots of spikes (aka carpet grippers) which can be felt along the perimeter. I cut my foot the other day accidentally when my foot moved near the skirting board. It was quite painful.

Does anyone have any advice about how to manage the spikes protuding through the carpet? I understand these spikes are holding the carpet taut but I'm worried that I or someone else may cut themselves again.

I'm worried that if I hammer the spikes with the mallet they may go down completely and stop holding the carpet taut.

Does anyone have advice on how these spikes can be managed? Is there a tool which can be used to point the spikes sideways? Or some other solution?

Appreciate any help or feedback.

Find more posts tagged with

Tools and Materials

Renovation

Building and Construction

Flooring

Accepted answers

All comments

ProjectPete

Sorry to hear you cut yourself @Moe!

Was this a DIY job or done by a business/professional? If the latter, get them out to fix it urgently given it's such a safety hazard.

If the former, I'm not sure what could be done beside reinstalling a gripper with shorter spikes to better suit the thickness of the carpet base. Sorry, I'm not a carpet expert. It may be possible to place some padding between the gripper and the underside of the carpet.

Moe

Thanks for the response Pete.

It was a professional job done in a newly constructed home I purchased. Not getting much joy from the builder when I mentioned the issue.

Might be something to live with.

ProjectPete

Absolutely not something for you to just live with! Your builder can not leave you with such a substandard install job, partcularly when it's a safety hazard and even more so considering you've already cut yourself on it.

Not letting builders get away with things isn't just something I'm passionate about (as you'll see from my other posts), it's your basic right not have a safe house built for you. Please don't let this slide with them @Moe. They need to address it. And they need to do it soon.

Put some safety tape over it in the meantime to avoid further injuries.

Moe

Thanks Pete. I have had your advice confirmed by several different industry and consumer third parties.

Have followed up with builder in writing. Thanks again.

ProjectPete

No worries at all - keen to hear how it plays out.

Jason

Good luck @Moe. Great to see you get some fantastic advice from one of our leading community members for your first post on the site. Feel free to post anytime you need a hand with a home improvement project. We look forward to reading more about your projects and plans.

Welcome to the community,

Jason

Home4us

@ProjectPete

I am not the original person you replied to, I am different person with the exact same issue.

Every once in a while, one of us would experience a painful prick, only to find nothing there. After one of the spikes actually pictured my toes, I decided to do a detailed sweep, and I found sharp metal spikes on each of the stairs.

Here are the pictures

https://imgur.com/a/NYZh3yC

From googling the issue, I came across this post

So I contacted my builder

> "We discovered that on each of our stairs, there's metal spikes sticking out, which are sharp enough to puncture our toes.
>
> From googling the issue, either the wrong gripper spikes or the wrong carpet was installed, and that this needs to be handled by whoever installed the carpet.
>
> Attached to this email are pictures of some of the spikes. Let me know what the next steps are.
> "

They replied with

> "
>Good afternoon. Appreciate your email. Tack strip nails are standard size and not covered under warranty. Due to different thickness of carpet types and carpet / pad wear. They may poke out. The tack strip nail are angled towards the stair risers to hold the carpet taut. If the tack strip nails are smaller the carpet would have the possibility to get loose, creating a trip hazard. Again the tack strip nails are standard sizing and we do not warranty the tack strip nails. Sorry for any inconveniences and you and your family have a wonderful week and Happy 4th of July.
> "

I followed up with

> "
> What is the exact tack strip nail and carpet used? Also, what kind of floor is underneath the carpet?
>
> Just to confirm, did you see all 9 of the pictures attached in the last email? I am also noting that these grippers are in a high traffic area.
> "

They replied with

> "
> Good afternoon. Carpet tack strips are normal size. the brands very but they are just standard tack strips. You can by them at most hardware stores in the carpet section. It just a standard size carpet tack strip.
>
> Here is your carpet:
>
> Material: carpet, Color: CHARRED HICKORY, Manf: SHAW, Style: NEST EGG, Pad:
>
> 3/8" 5 LB REBOND, Deg: cold
>
> Yes I seen all pictures and yes they are around “every edge of your carpet” and at the front edge of each and every step. They are also in front of each transition area from vinyl to carpet.
>
> Downstairs is concrete and up the stairs and all upstairs is wood subfloor. Hope that helps and have a wonderful day.
> "

They seem insistent on they did everything properly. What could a next step be?

EricL

Hello @Home4us

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. Thank you for joining us and sharing your query about carpet grippers.

There are actually carpet grippers with shorter pins. They are categorized as short, medium, and long pins. You then use the appropriate gripper depending on the thickness of the underlay and carpet. There is actually a company that supplies these particular grippers BBS flooring products.

Here is the link to the supplier's datasheet. Carpet Gripper

If you have the information about the thickness of your underlay and carpet, you can now determine which gripper should be used. This product is currently not available at the store and will have to be purchased independently.

If you need more information, please let us know.

Eric

Home4us

Thanks for the reply!

Here is the information they provided about the carpet

Material: carpet, Color: CHARRED HICKORY, Manf: SHAW, Style: NEST EGG, Pad:

3/8" 5 LB REBOND, Deg: cold

EricL

Hello @Home4us

Thank you for providing that information. The measurement of 3/8 refers to the thickness of the carpet padding and the 5LB is its density rating. If we convert 3/8 inches to millimeters we get roughly 10mm. Plus the thickness of the backing of your carpet you will get your overall thickness.

So if for example, we have a thickness of 10mm for carpet padding plus a carpet backing of 2mm for an overall thickness of 12mm. You will also have to add the length of carpet that particular gripper is holding. If that gripper is holding a certain length there is a certain weight rating applied to it. Using a smaller gripper might not be enough to hold the tension in the carpet.

Let me ask the supplier for their recommendation and as soon as I have the information I will get back to you.

Eric

Child Item