Noticed traction strips disappearing from carpet jobs over 20 years

I was pulling up some old commercial carpet last week in a school gym and found those rubber traction strips they used to glue down at every doorway and landing. Real game changer back in the 90s because they kept the carpet from creeping on the seams in high traffic spots. But somewhere around 2010 I stopped seeing them spec'd on new jobs. Builders started pushing for tackless strips only to save on material and labor costs. Now when I do a tear out I find bare concrete under the doorways with the carpet lifting at the edges and it drives me crazy. Is anyone else still using traction strips on residential work or has that method totally died out in your market too?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan71915d ago

Man I feel you on this. It's like builders decided saving a few bucks upfront was worth causing headaches down the road, and now we're the ones left dealing with it.

tylerr3915d ago

I tell you what, I worked on a 1980s house that had this same cheap switch setup. Every single switch in that place was a basic toggle that couldn't handle the load right. Is it really about saving a few bucks though? Maybe builders back then just didn't know any better about what hardwiring would look like 40 years later. People act like these shortcuts are malicious when it's probably just ignorance or bad advice from suppliers.