Inspection - Nails in Carpet

Hi everyone

I recently had an inspection completed on one of our IP's that was built last year. The property is now about 6 months old. The property manager noticed that in the doorways of all carpetted rooms, the nails holding down the edge of the carpet were very obvious and painful to walk on with bare feet.

When I did the handover inspection last year I had bare feet and also noticed these nails. They are quite sharp and did hurt if you stood on them. I pointed this out as a defect to the builder but he said that it was normal. He said he could have the nails knocked down if I wanted but that the carpet was the likely to eventually lift in every doorway over time.

Can anyone tell me if this is normal for a new house? Or should I be requesting that the builder (or his carpet layer?) return and rectify the problem as a defect?

My tenants have a very young child and a baby on the way, so I am conscious of children crawling/stepping on these nails also. Any feedback would be greatly received. Thanks.

Angela :)
 
These are the nails protruding from the carpet nail strip. You must have a low pile carpet to be feeling them come thru. Perhaps just bang them down with a hammer - but the carpet may lift over time in this area, as your builder has stated.
 

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These are the nails protruding from the carpet nail strip. You must have a low pile carpet to be feeling them come thru. Perhaps just bang them down with a hammer - but the carpet may lift over time in this area, as your builder has stated.

Thanks very much for the photo...what I felt makes sense now! It is a low pile carpet too.

You could hammer down just those tacks in the middle of the tack strip (where people invariably step), while leaving those near the door jambs to hold the carpet in place.

Not my idea, I lifted it from here: http://www.homebuyerstalk.com/showthread.php?t=40485

That link was very useful! Great suggestion about just flattening those tacks in the middle of the tack strip and the link outlines the correct way to do it...you essentially use the handle end of the hammer to protect the carpet.

Thanks everyone! :D

Angela
 
My PPOR had a similar problem in the carpet in some doorways when I moved in. I just hammered the **** out of them so they were all flat.
I assumed that since the tacks are angled, if i hammer down in that same angle, then they would still hold.
I've had no problems since.

(It's cheap carpet and covers small areas so I wasn't massivley concerned if I caused problems. But I havent encountered any yet)
 
All the door ways I have seen done don't have that wood strip across them.

The wood stops either side and a special metal strip with curved nails is used instead. Depending on what is on the other side, eg lino/tiles it sometimes has a rubber lip attached.
 
Nothing new unfortunately!

Every new house I took on when I was a Property Manager had this problem. It is also around all the walls, not just where the carpet meets tiled areas. As I was dealing directly with builder I instructed the nails to be flattened which they did with a hammer and piece of timber. Funnily enough - they all said they were aware of it, yet strangely enough, never fixed it unless asked too!
 
They are also on the front/top of all stair treads - which can be very painful when nipping down the stairs to quick
 
This is what I have at doors and places like stairs. Even in my old house with worn thin carpets you can step on them without feeling much.

Only have the wood strips along walls were you don't step on them.
 

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Talking of feeling nails through the carpet ....

We had an IP that had over $17,000 worth of damage done to it. They pretty much destroyed the place and it was completely renovated only about 4 years previously.

One of the things the tenants did was to use 3" nails to nail down the carpet throughout the house where it had lifted or bubbled slightly ...... I just couldn't believe that someone would do this instead of asking for the carpet to be re-stretched.

They hammered in the nails and then left them with about 1/2" to 1" sticking up .... I'm talking over 50-60 nails in the lounge/dining, passage and bedrooms that I had to remove.

Takes all kinds I suppose.

Mystery .... :rolleyes:
 
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