The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Carpet Laying And Estimating Website
Of course, if you didn't take the measurements yourself, you can always blame the guy who did, or the shop, if the carpet is eight inches short when delivered to you for laying. The shop can maybe blame the error on someone else. After all, an extra seam eight inches from the wall will be covered by the furniture . . . and all you'll lose is the customer's good will, the next ten prospects, and maybe your job as well. (If the error's any larger, you may have to pay for the carpet, too!)
THE NEED FOR DRAWINGS OF EVERY FLOOR
You cannot safely move a single step on a job of any size without an accurate drawing of every floor you are going to cover. First, you will need it because most of the figuring you will be doing must be done away from the actual scene of the job; second, because you will have to use it to plan the direction of the seams and the location of the design; and third, because you will need it to figure how much carpet must be "wasted" in matching the design, covering irregular spaces, and fitting in and around fireplaces, abutments, stairwells, and the like.
Architects' drawings or blueprints are usually available on jobs of any size. For the average home, however, it may be necessary to start from scratch unless the housewife can locate the original plans. Always try to get the drawings that have the actual (full-size) dimensions clearly written in. If no one can furnish you with the drawings or blueprints you will have to make the sketches yourself. Always check blueprints in case changes have been made by the builder during actual construction. Never cut carpet from blueprint dimensions!
MEASURING EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS
Your on-location equipment should start with a fifty- or one-hundred-foot tape—ether metallic linen or steel. A six-foot steel pocket tape, rather than the more cumbersome yardstick or folding rule, is useful in place of the longer tapeline when it is necessary to measure under furniture or other obstruction. Then you will need an awl, a carpenter's square, a box of white chalk, a chalk line and chalk powder, pencil and paper.
Always bring paper with you—don't depend on borrowing some from the customer. Paper should be standard 81/2 x 11-in. size, preferably with faint blue squares ruled horizontally and vertically every ] inch, and padded or mounted on a wooden or metal clip-board. Avoid thin or tissue-weight paper that can't take a lot of handling, folding, and rough treatment. If you have to choose between thin paper with ruled lines and heavy paper without lines, choose the latter, because your first sketch is a rough sketch—not a scale drawing. (That comes later.)
