Bracing (carpet)

Under the bracing carpet is meant the laying of carpet in a room with the aid of nail strips.

history

The laying of floor coverings has changed a lot since the beginning of this activity. For insulation and decoration purposes, skins were placed on the ground at the beginning. With the introduction of carpets from Asia via the land trade routes, these were brought to the wall as decorative elements and later placed on the floor in Europe as an expression of financial strength. At this time, plain weave carpets were used in the middle-class milieu , as knotted carpets were expensive . With the beginning of industrialization in Europe, freely patterned carpets were also made on looms, but these were not very dimensionally stable and were therefore attached to the usually wooden floor with decorated nails. This is the beginning of stretching the carpet. In the English-speaking world, techniques were devised to connect smaller areas to a larger area with an "invisible seam". These were then braced, for example.

In order to increase the comfort and durability as well as the thermal resistance, the floor covering was underlaid with felt. This was able to increase the durability by enlarging the pressure area and better insulated the sound and heat. The tension was generated by mechanical devices such as the knee and space tensioners or by using water. In this way, the surfaces were wetted and after the covering had dried it "ran in". Today the tension is generated by lever tensioners .

Modern bracing methods

The floor coverings are no longer nailed up, but hung on nail strips attached to the edge area . These nail strips are plywood slats which are nailed through from below at regular intervals so that the nail tips protrude upwards between 3 and 10 mm. The length of the nails must be adapted to the thickness of the carpet. Usually 4 mm is used in Germany. 8 mm is almost only available in the USA. The nail strips must be very firmly connected to the sub-floor. The safest way is to anchor. Can be nailed to wooden floors. In the case of underfloor heating , drilling should not be carried out as the risk of damaging the heating hoses is too high. Just in case, the nail strips can be glued to the dust-free screed with impact glue . To do this, they should be cut into small pieces beforehand.

In the transition areas, specially corrugated aluminum strips are incorporated under which the cut carpets are wrapped so that no cut edges can be seen. Today, the felt usually has a thickness of 5 to 7 mm.

Larger areas are now using a with hot melt adhesive LABEL FOR reinforcement fabric together (about 10 cm wide). Pay attention to the pattern accuracy and the direction of the lines. Textile floor coverings which are woven or tufted are particularly suitable; However, tufted ones must have a so-called second back in order to take the load of tension. If necessary, the manufacturer should be asked whether he approves his floor covering for tensioning. Any commercially available skirting board can be used in the edge area.

If the carpet is laid as a continuous runner on stairs or pulled up in the corner of the room, a rub hammer is used to create a clean crease.

Regional differences

The development in Europe (mainland) has moved away from this laying method despite the advantages. Here carpets are often glued, laid loosely or fastened with Velcro.

In the GDR, clamping surfaces made of welded PVC sheets were used to a large extent in new buildings .

advantages

The advantages include greater comfort and longer service life, as well as better cleaning options. The bracing is therefore the highest quality, but at the same time the most expensive laying method. However, some interior decorators take the view that the total cost over the life of the flooring from installation to removal and disposal of the flooring is lower than that of glued flooring.