The moment I realized I'd been measuring patterns wrong for 15 years

I was installing a big commercial carpet in an office building downtown, and the customer pointed out that the pattern wasn't lining up at the seam. I argued with him for like 10 minutes, then I looked again and saw he was right. Turns out I'd been measuring from the wrong edge of the pattern repeat this whole time, and it threw everything off by 3 inches. How did you guys figure out you were doing something basic wrong without a customer catching it first?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel_cooper342d ago

Happened to me with a 24x24 tile layout in a hotel lobby. I was measuring from the center of the pattern instead of the edge for three years before a tile setter on the crew casually asked me why I was doing it that way. Felt like an idiot. Now I always lay out a dry run on the floor first with a couple rolls or tiles before I cut anything.

shanec612d ago

@daniel_cooper34 that sounds about right for me too, I've been measuring from the wrong side of the tape for years.

tessaperry2d ago

The "measuring from the wrong side" thing is such a trap, I swear it's like a universal law of doing anything repetitive. It reminds me of how people always put their car keys in the same wrong pocket for weeks before they switch it up. You just get locked into a way of doing something and your brain completely skips over the obvious fix until someone points it out.