Carpet Tacking Strip
Ah, the carpet tacking strip question/statement…….
Yes, the archival framer and I talked about this quite a bit……
He was horrified to learn that this is such a common method of
hanging rugs….
The carpet tacking strips will play h*ll with your rugs over the long term…
The nails are not galvanized and will rust….
Plus the sharp nails and nail edges cut at the fibers of the rug…..
The wood is not sealed and the acids from the wood will also eat away at the wool fibers…..
Kind of reminds me of this……
Have I hung rugs using carpet tack strip…….yes
Do I have any rugs currently hung using carpet tack strip…..yes
Am I searching for a better method…..yes
So what started all of this experimentation?
I wanted a way to hang my rugs with just a few nails in the wall,
where I could take the rugs down and they would also be suitable
for hanging in gallery showings.
I’ve only done two showings and once the rugs are there it is a
nightmare to figure out how to hang the rugs.
Galleries don’t exactly want you nailing carpet tacking strips to their walls.
He (the framer) had me use the thicker wood strips to keep the rug from hanging flush
to the wall (I requested a method where the rugs would hang flush to the wall)…..when it
hangs flush, it easily traps moisture, which can also be damaging to the rug AND the wall….
in the form of moisture and mold. When the rug is hung a bit away from the wall it lets air
circulate around the front and the back of the rug.
For most rugs, you would probably not need the wood along the bottom
of the rug as well, however, for these particular rugs…..they had lots of
embellishing which needed to be weighted at the bottom to have the rugs
hang correctly.
In the future we will also be experimenting with Velcro and perhaps an innovate
way to hang smaller rugs with galvanized or stainless steel wire…..I’ll let you know
how these come along as I work on them.
We put so much time and effort into our rugs….I think it’s time we start thinking more
about how we hang them as well.
Check out the original source here.
