Pulled up carpet seam in doorway, now there is a gap... how to fix?

thisisjason

So I had to temporarily pull up a section of carpet in the corner of a bedroom near the doorway. I did not heat up the existing carpet seaming tape because this is my first time messing with carpet and I didn't research ahead of time. The carpet tape came off pretty easily, along with about 1/2" of carpet fiber.

Now that I lay the two pieces of carpet down where they meet in the door way, there is about a 1/2" gap.

When I go to install the new seaming tape, do I need to use a knee kicker to stretch both pieces of carpet towards each other? Since there is no tack strip in the door way, I'm worried the seam isn't going to want to stay together if both pieces of stretched carpet are only held together by seaming tape.

If tape won't hold the carpet, I imagine I need to cut a thin strip of carpet to fill the gap and then install that on top of the seam tape. Please advise.

rusty baker

You can kick it up and as you hold it, stay nail a few inches back from the seam on both sides. After the seam cools, pull the nails.

__________________
"I'm twisted, not sick. Sick implies, I'll get better"
Semi-Retired Installer
Installing since 1973

thisisjason

Rusty, what's your opinion of non-heated, double sided carpet seaming tape? It looks like it could cost me up to $40-$50 to rent a tape iron for a day so the non-heated tapes are looking most appealing to me right now.

rusty baker

To be honest, I have never used any. I have always used heat bond tape. One of the stores I worked for sold it and I don't think there were any complaints.

__________________
"I'm twisted, not sick. Sick implies, I'll get better"
Semi-Retired Installer
Installing since 1973