Concrete Nails in Tack Strip Installed In Wood Floor

I’d like to say I understand running out of tack strip with wood nails and finishing with tack strip with concrete nails, but I don’t!

Oh so often when stretching carpet in people’s homes we have to re-nail the tack strip to the floor, most of the time because tack strip with concrete nails was used in a wood floor.  I understand installers run out of the correct tack strip at big jobs, but what stops them from changing the nails with extra wood nails they keep in their toolbox?

No matter what the tack strip pops off the floor every single time!  And it happens so often I wonder if the installer is awake or not, or if they even know how to install carpet because the carpet cannot be stretched at all.  My apologies to good installers, I see this so often it really gets my goat, a simple fix for a simple problem.

Never is wood nails seen used on concrete floors.  But just as bad, often is seen tack strip nailed to concrete floors where the cement has just crumbled or cracked.  This is just as easy to fix by using the right nail as there are many different nails that can be used for different hardness of concrete.  In worse case scenarios structural glue can be used and there should never be a problem.

Chris