Why Does My Carpet Install Have Seams?

Carpet, from the vast majority of mills, is manufactured in 12' widths.  This means that at a minimum a seam is required of 12'.  In addition to this physical limitation, carpet needs to be thought of as having grain.  What we mean by this is that all the carpet from a continuous area must be running in the same direction.  This is because if it is turned 90 degrees and seamed onto an existing piece, that section will look drastically different than the rest of the room.

These constraints force carpet layers to place seams strategically in an installation to minimize waste and maximize the aesthetic of the final product.  It is possible to reduce waste in some cases, but it requires more carpet and costs more money.  Below is an example of how one room could be laid to minimize waste or minimize seams, but you can't do both.  For reference, the term "drop" refers to the cut length of the full 12' width of carpet in the room and "fill" refers to the additional length needed to fill the space beyond the 12' width.  In the example below the number of seams could be reduced by half but would require 5.33 square yards of additional carpet, which is almost 20% more.

If minimizing seams is the largest concern above all else, we can accommodate, but unfortunately it comes at a cost.  Hopefully this explanation and diagram helps illustrate the challenges of balancing economics and expectations when installing carpet.