Overheard a builder say 'just use glue down' and it bugged me all week

I was on a remodel job last Tuesday over in Oakwood, doing a bedroom for a family. The general contractor was on the phone and I heard him tell someone that tack strips are a waste of time, just glue the carpet straight down. He was talking about a rental property they were flipping. I get that it's faster and cheaper upfront, but what happens when that glue dries out in three years and you got ripples everywhere? Has anyone else run into builders pushing glue down on carpet where it really should have had padding and tack strips?

2 comments

2 Comments

juliashah6d ago

I pulled up a glue-down carpet job last year that was only two years old and it was basically a wrinkled mess, had to rip it all out and start over with tack strips and proper padding. The glue gets brittle and loses its grip way faster than people expect, especially in rooms with temperature swings or any moisture at all.

gibson.sarah6d ago

Whoa, that's wild. I've seen glue-down go bad in less than a year in humid basements. It just turns into a sticky, crumbly mess that never holds. Tack strips are the only way to go for anything that needs to last more than a minute.