We record the length and width of the repeat and whether the goods come 12 ft or 15 ft wide.
We pick the wall, hall, or hearth the pattern has to run parallel to, and we tell you which one loses.
We drop seams out of the main walkway and into the light where they read quietest.
Patterns arrive slightly off. We check every roll and pull it back with the power stretcher.
A herringbone or a trellis has nowhere to hide on stairs. Every tread shows the same slice of the repeat at eye level, so any drift stacks up as you climb. We template the flight, set the pattern center on the stair centerline, and cut each tread from the same point in the repeat. Landings and winders get their own layout. Call +1 240 751 5542 and we will template your stairs.
We record repeat length and width, roll width, pile direction, and the dye lot.
We choose the sightlines that must read straight and mark them on the floor.
We add the length matching consumes, then cut breadths so the repeat carries across.
Power stretcher pulls the pattern square, then seam iron and tape close the joints.
Each breadth has to start at the same point in the repeat, so the offcuts land in the bin.
Almost none are. We pick the lines you look down every day and let the closet wall absorb the drift.
Patterns come off the loom slightly bent. We pull them straight with the stretcher, within what the goods allow.
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A plain carpet needs the area of the room plus a little waste. A patterned carpet needs the area plus whatever the repeat demands. Every breadth has to start at the same point in the design so the motif carries across the seam. Whatever falls before that point gets cut off. A short repeat costs you inches. A long repeat costs you a foot or more on every drop.
So we measure the repeat on the actual goods, note the roll width, and work out the match allowance before anything is ordered. That number goes on the quote where you can see it. For plain broadloom without any of this, see wall-to-wall carpet installation.
Walk into the room and look at where your eye lands. The hall, the front door, the fireplace, the long wall of windows. One of those lines gets the pattern square, and the rest absorb the difference, because your walls are not parallel. They never are.
We mark that focal line on the floor before the first cut. Seams get planned at the same time, dropped out of the walking path and turned so the light does not rake across them. Then the power stretcher does the real work, pulling bow and skew out of the goods and holding the repeat true to the line we set.
Stairs put the pattern at eye level, one tread at a time, so drift shows immediately. We template the flight, center the design on the stair, and cut every tread from the same spot in the repeat. Winders and landings get their own layout. If you want wood showing on both sides, read stair runner installation.
The flooring cost calculator gives a plain-carpet range. Pattern always prices higher because of the match, and we will show you by how much.
Every breadth has to begin at the same point in the repeat, so we cut off the difference. A long repeat can add a foot or more per drop. On stairs and irregular rooms it adds up faster. We show you the match allowance on the quote instead of burying it.
Almost never, because rooms are rarely square. We set the pattern parallel to the sightline you look down most, usually the hall or the main entry. The drift then gets pushed to a closet wall or a low-traffic corner where nobody reads it.
Bow is the pattern curving across the width of the roll. Skew is the pattern running on an angle. Both come from the loom and the finishing. We pull them back with the power stretcher, and we tell you up front how much a given roll will give.
Yes, but they get measured separately. Stairs take the repeat at eye level, so the pattern is centered on the stair and cut from the same point every tread. The room layout runs off its own focal line.