What to do about carpet grippers sticking through?

[#1]

Carpet grippers are categorised 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 determine which gripper should be used.

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. - EricL

If the job was done by professionals, get them out to fix it urgently given it's such a safety hazard.

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

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

[MironSher10]

Hi Eric, I’ve read some of your comments and of course your summary on carpets and grippers which is very insightful. In August, a new carpet installation was carried out where I live. It’s one bedroom tans has stairs. The previous carpet was over 25yrs old and was really happy when the approval came in to replace it. The installation company replaced the old with the new. The new one is much thinner the old one (1cm base to pile difference). The existing 25yo grippers were not replaced so I’m sure you know what comes next. 100’s upon 100’s of pins exposed. They are all around the edges (1-2cm from edges), they are on all the stairs BOTH vertical and horizontal and they are in all the main traffic areas which there are several (pins come in from 4cm to 10cm so I believe there may be 2 grippers installed in each area but I’ve only identified them like that on one area. The installers first response went from “I don’t know what happened?” to returning several times to assess and hammer the nails down. Of perhaps the 2000 or so pins, I think they managed to knock down maybe 200-500 of them from Aug-Nov. Actually that count may be much less as they actually installed metal trims in 7 areas! (Yet still managed to not cover all the pin areas in those locations! Along the way, I noticed carpet separation and in particular the stairs. Upon lifting the carpet in some of the areas and not just the stairs, I discovered that the carpet gripper pins were darkened, rusted, some missing, some bent flat on the base and I also noticed broken wood. I’ll add that I found a jewellery pendant, loose nail, concrete piles and a little scrunched up peace of paper so god knows what else could be under there! Lol. 

I have refused any further return visits and going through my options here but would really like your feedback/input in terms of resolution and what you think needs to be done?

In terms of your expertise, how is it that you come to understand all this and have so much knowledge in it? Did you do a course, work for an installation company etc? I’m intrigued. I’ve been trying to source a professional installation company or repair service but it has been a challenge and I need to weight up the options as it is an urgent situation, it does concern serious hazards and I haven’t invited anyone over as a result including family and little ones. The owner is also in a tough position around all this as well even though I believe she could make a warranty claim for the carpet due to the rusted old grippers and some damage from nail knocking attempts.

Would be of great value to your insights here and hope to hear back soon. 

Miron Sher 

[EricL]

Hello @MironSher10

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's a pleasure to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about your carpet grippers.

If the carpet replacement was under contract and you aren't satisfied with the installation you have the right to ask them to come back and rectify the mistake. Although they did come back the repairs carried out were substandard and not satisfactory. As you mentioned the correct carpet gripper was not used. If the contract included the installation of new carpet grippers then the installer did not follow this particular part of the deal. It is also possible that they used very poor underlay and very thin carpets. 

I recommend not trying to fix it yourself as it is still under warranty. As soon as you make alterations the installer can say that the installation was tampered with and is no longer under warranty. Generally, when you touch the ends of the carpet near the wall and at your doorway, you're not supposed to feel the carpet gripper pins.   

I recommend speaking to the owner and telling them of the situation in your home and the danger the rusty carpet pins represent should you or any of your guests happen to step on them. I believe it's better to settle this as amicably as possible rather than filing a complaint.

Thank you for the compliment.   

Please keep us updated with your progress, we look forward to seeing your carpets properly installed.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric