Untitled Document

Recycled Plastic Carpet Installed with Tack Strips

The carpet used in the En-House is 100 percent recycled PET plastic from old bottles, donated by GCO Carpet Outlet in Ann Arbor. It looks, performs and feels like other high-quality carpets. Many people react to the chemicals emmitted by carpetting, carpet padding, and carpet adhesives. In the En-House, the carpeting was installed using tack strips in order to avoid using chemical adhesives.

Tack strips are used all along the perimeter of the room. Screwed to the subfloor, the tack strips have sharp metal barbs that stick straight up. These barbs catch the carpet and hold it in place.

The tack strips are placed less than an inch from the wall or from junctures with other flooring. The edge of the carpeting that hangs over the strip is tucked over and down.

Tools of the trade include a large stretcher, a "kicker", a razor knife for cutting edges, and a flat tool for tucking the end of the carpet over the tack strip.

The stretcher is backed up against a far wall, is set into the carpet with its metal teeth, and then cranked farther open to stretch the carpet. The kicker also grabs the carpet with metal barbs and the installer whacks the end with his knee as he hooks the end of the carpet onto the tack strip. This technique is fascinating to watch!