Brian’s Blog

Installing artificial turf is a landscaping choice many homeowners or organizations are making for areas of their property that they want to look neat and attractive without a lot of maintenance. Home putting greens, pet runs, play areas, pools, tennis courts, and other athletic fields often utilize artificial turf. Installing artificial turf is more challenging than installing carpet. With the right tools and supplies, however, including the right turf tape and mallets, you can make any area attractive, easy to use, and easy to clean by landscaping artificial turf. 

Landscaping Artificial Turf

What do you need to install artificial turf that will stay put and look great? First, you need to break up the sod either with a tiller or a sod cutter  and remove all plant material from the section you are landscaping. If you do not remove all grass, weeds, or seeds, they will find a way to grow through your turf and create unsightly problems. So take your time and be thorough.

When you’ve entirely cleared the area, you will need to lay down crushed aggregate over the entire surface to the depth of two to four inches. When you’re finished laying it down, the aggregate should be level with the ground surrounding the piece that you are landscaping with artificial turf. Then you will need to add a 15-25 year weed barrier on top of the aggregate. This will ensure that any potential plant growth will be stifled and will not wreck your turf. 

When you’ve completed adding the aggregate and the weed barrier, you’ll begin installing the turf itself. You will need a carpet knife or box cutter to cut the turf. During the turf Installation, the trickiest part is making sure that the seams match up so that the artificial turf looks like all one lawn and there are no seam issues. 

Bond Products offers a variety of products to make that easier, including turf tape, turf seaming irons, a turf carpet tractor and even a turf seam sewing machine. With our turf tape, you won’t have to fumble around with messy pails of glue, trowels, and fabric. Just roll Bond’s turf tape out, line it up, heat with a high temperature iron, and lay the seam. In order to attach the turf solidly to the ground you’ll also need 6-inch galvanized nails. 

Bond also sells mallets and mallet replacement caps. These are very useful for spiking down the turf and hammering out bumps under the turf. You will want to make sure that the surface of the turf is entirely flat when you’re finished so that it looks and feels as good as possible when you’re walking or playing on it.

Once your artificial turf is seamed and attached, your job is almost finished. The final step is to  apply an infill material that will keep the turf down and flat. Brush the infill material over with a broom to make sure the entire backing is covered.

Landscaping artificial turf may sound like a difficult job, but with the right tools and supplies, most homeowners can install it on their own. The key is to make sure you have the right equipment and quality artificial turf and to take the time you need to do a good job start to finish. If you need turf installation supplies or mallets, call us at 1-888-800-BOND. We are here to help you get everything you need to make your projects turn out perfectly.

 

During the last few months when many people have had extra down time, lots of them have used it to accomplish home improvement projects. We always encourage our customers to think about binding a piece of carpet to make it an area rug. It’s such a simple and rewarding project. You can use any carpet remnant you like. We have Instabind in a full spectrum of colors, including five new Instabind colors: Heather, Lead, Smoke, Graphite, Chestnut. 

New Instabind Colors

The five newest colors are all earth tones. Lead, Smoke, and Graphite are all variations of gray. Gray is a trending color right now for carpet and interior decorating. It complements both black and white color schemes and also other earth tones. Heather is a shade of tan, and Chestnut is a rich brown color. 

Earth colors are always appealing. People enjoy being in nature because nature helps them to relax and unwind physically and mentally. That’s why incorporating natural earth tones in interior decorating is so pleasing to the eye. Using them mimics the experience of being outdoors. 

Beige is becoming a popular choice as a neutral color and an earth tone too. Behr, the paint and stain company, recently announced its color of the year: Back to Nature. This shade is a light green shade with tan overtones. Behr stated: 

“The living room is the perfect place to prominently feature Back to Nature on the walls. This shade is at once soothing and warm as a welcome alternative to white. Green walls look absolutely amazing in a room with loads of natural light pouring through French doors or large windows. This is the ultimate place to set up a relaxing reading area, complete with a comfy sofa and side chair.”

We believe that this color and other earth tones are great colors for carpets and area rugs as well as walls. It’s easy to add a sisal rug to a hardwood floor. The rug’s natural fibers give the room texture and depth and make it more visually appealing. Wool is another excellent choice of rug material. It’s beautiful, it’s long lasting, and it helps to reduce allergies. 

How Much Instabind to Order

If you do not know how much Instabind to order for your project, click here for our handy tutorial. It’s very simple to measure your rug or carpet remnant and order the right amount. We also offer Instabind package deals for anyone wanting everything necessary to bind a carpet remnant in one kit. 

If none of the five new Instabind colors appeal to you, we have a wide selection of other colors available. Take a look at your options and then call us at 1-888-800-BOND to place your order for Instabind and any other carpet binding needs you might have. 

 

Since the COVID-19 outbreak began, there has been a much greater demand for personal protection equipment (PPE) for both personal and professional use. Because so many hospitals did not have adequate equipment and supplies went to them first, many people were left scrambling to find hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves. The grocery stores and pharmacies ran out of these supplies fast and still have empty shelves. If you are looking for these hard-to-find items, we are happy to say that we have them in stock to order either separately or in kits.

Gloves, Masks, and Hand Sanitizer

We’ve done several blogs about how to make your own mask to wear out in public or to work. People making their own masks have helped meet consumer demand. It’s a lot harder to make your own gloves or hand sanitizer, though, so, in an effort to help our customers comply with local regulations to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus, Bond Products is now offering four different products (while supplies last). These are:

• Hand sanitizer in 4-ounce spray bottles – this hand sanitizer is an 80% alcohol, antiseptic, topical solution 
• KN95 masks – These 4-layer masks come in packages of 30
• Gloves – These disposable gloves come in packs of 40 (20 pairs) or 100 (50 pairs)

Some geographical areas of the United States have already lifted their lockdowns. In Pennsylvania the governor is lifting the lockdowns on a county-by-county basis, depending on how many coronavirus cases exist. Other states have been allowing certain industries to return to work as long as they take precautions to ensure the safety of their employees and customers. Not every area has experienced the coronavirus the same, but everyone wants to minimize the risk of having employees become sick. For this reason, providing staff with PPE and training them in using it to prevent the spread of the virus is vital. 

We are selling our gloves, masks, and hand sanitizer individually or in kits. If you have any questions about what you may need for PPE or any other carpet binding or installation needs, do not hesitate to call us at 1-888-800-BOND. We will be happy to help you find what you require to keep working – either at home or on the job. 

 

In our last blog we talked about making cloth masks to help service workers, family members, and neighbors protect themselves from the coronavirus. Several of the products we sell can be used to make face masks with ties. This is useful for people who sew who may have enough fabric but have had a hard time finding elastic. Face masks that tie are also preferable in some ways than those with elastic. 

Sewing Face Masks to Help the Effort

When we look back at the COVID-19 epidemic, there will be a lot of difficult and frustrating things to remember, but one of the good things will be how people pulled together for each other and soldiered on. Frontline workers and those in essential industries kept working. Many people at home stayed busy making a difference by sewing face masks. They sewed all day and sometimes into the night, and they made do when they ran low on things like elastic. They created new patterns and taught others how to sew too. We’ve seen a lot of customers purchasing our ½-inch and ⅝-inch cotton #501 natural tapes and twill tapes as material for mask ties. 

One of our customers, W.C. Carpenter, has been making use of our cotton binding and donating them to people in need! They sent us these pictures of their work and the final result. Impressive!

A really nice thing about making face masks is that this is the perfect beginner sewing project. There are some more complicated face mask patterns available, but the simplest ones involve cutting rectangles and sewing them together in straight lines. If you can cut, pin, and sew a straight line, you can make a mask. 

Here’s what you will need: 

• High quality 100% cotton fabric
• Binding tape or twill tape
• Pins
• Thread
• Scissors

That’s it! Here is a great tutorial (with pattern) on how to make a two-layer, rectangular mask with a filter pocket. The type of mask allows you to add a piece of filtering fabric to make the mask more effective against viruses. 

Face masks with ties aren’t harder to make than masks with elastic, and they should hold up longer. This is important because they will have to be washed as protective gear. Elastic loses its elasticity over time, but ties will continue to work as long as the mask itself lasts. Some people prefer this type of mask because they think it’s more comfortable, especially if it has to be worn for many hours. Elastic can cut into the skin and pinch. 

If you would like to make face masks for yourself or others and need quantities of cotton binding tape or twill tape for the face mask ties, Bond Products has the supplies you need. Call us – we will be happy to help get you started.

 

Americans may be quarantined at home, but they are still working to combat the coronavirus. Many people are making cloth masks for frontline workers or family members to wear to protect themselves. Our awesome customers have asked about using our cotton binding tapes for surgical masks. Yes, cotton binding tapes and twill tapes can be used to make masks! Bond Products has created a coupon for you to use to get 10% off mask making supplies.

CDC Recommends Wearing Cloth Masks 

Last week the Centers for Disease Control came out with a recommendation for Americans to wear cloth masks or face coverings in public places, especially places where it’s hard to maintain the recommended distance of 6 feet between two people. This might mean at work for some people or at the grocery store or pharmacy for others. Wearing cloth masks can help slow the spread of the virus. Some people may be sick and not even know it, so wearing a face mask as an extra precaution would really help keep others around them safer.

Harvard Medical School also recommends wearing a mask if “you have respiratory symptoms like coughing or sneezing…This may help contain droplets containing any type of virus, including the flu, and protect anyone within three to six feet of the infected person.” Since cloth masks are reusable, they will still be good to have when the coronavirus outbreak is over. Cold and flu season is every year.

It’s important to wash and sterilize the masks after they are used, so making a number of masks if you are going to be out of the house on a regular basis would be advisable. You can wash them in hot water and use color-safe bleach to sterilize them. 

Making Cloth Masks to Wear

Cloth masks can be made from household items like t-shirts or cotton fabric. There are a number of tutorials online about how to make face masks. Some of them are very simple and others are designed to allow an extra protective insert or to be worn over an n95 mask. You can decide which would work best for you. 

One of the challenges for many people sewing masks has been to find elastic to use to fasten the masks over the wearer’s ears. We’re happy to say that our cotton binding tapes and twill tapes are ideal to use for fastening masks that tie behind the head or fasten behind the ears.

If you want to make cloth masks for your family, neighbors, or community members, enter the coupon code “MASK10” to save 10% on all cotton binding, twill tapes, hook & loop tape, glue guns, and scissors. The COVID-19 pandemic will not last forever, but until it ends, we’re all doing what we can to help each other survive it. Call us today or order online. Please stay safe and well! 

It’s a challenging time for the country and the world. While we’re quarantined, many of us suddenly have time on our hands. Some find that keeping busy with work helps to fight boredom and worry. If you’re wondering just what you’ll do stuck at home over the next days or weeks, now is a good time to work on some DIY projects, the kind you might have wanted to try but didn’t have the time for. 

What Kinds of DIY Projects?

It’s always a great time to make a rug out of a carpet remnant. If your kids are home from school, they can help you with this project because Instabind is very simple to use. All you have to do is cut your rug to size, measure the perimeter, then order the Instabind style and color of your choice, and apply it to the carpet remnant using a glue gun. Instabind is great for updating the interiors of cars, boats, and motorhomes too if yours need some sprucing up before you take them out of storage in a few months. Check out the video:

Another kind of project to tackle would be a more involved Easter craft with your kids. If you’re thinking of dyeing Easter eggs, why not try decorating DIY Easter eggs with hot glue. You can make all sorts of fun patterns using a hot glue gun. Most of our customers use hot glue guns for work, but glue guns are also excellent for crafting. You can use them to make baskets or nests or projects for any school theme your kids are now studying at home. 

It might be a good time to learn a new skill too, like rug carving, rug hooking, or braiding rugs. We have all the supplies you need for making rugs, carving rugs, and then adding non-slip backings to them so they will not slide on your floors and cause accidents. Making a rug really is an art and one that Americans did throughout the history of this country in order to add beauty and comfort to their homes and cabins. It’s the perfect practical, traditional craft. 

For any flooring project involving nails or staples, we have those too. Give us a call at 1-888-800-BOND for any question you might have about our inventory of supplies. We’ll be happy to help you find the right ones. 

A Note on Our Company

Bond Products received an exemption from the State of Pennsylvania and was allowed to re-open as of Monday, March 30, 2020. We had been taking orders over the phone and shipping them, but now we are truly open, although working with a reduced staff. We will ship whatever we have in stock, so if you have DIY, carpet installation, or rug binding needs, please call us, email, fax, or order online, and we will get you stocked up. 

It’s a difficult time for everyone. Please stay healthy and well. God bless you. 

 

In recent blogs we have discussed how higher tariffs and the COVID-19 outbreak worldwide will affect the prices and availability of necessary manufactured goods such as staples and nails. In this blog we will talk about the current logistics challenges and why problems with international shipping by ocean or by air look like they are not going away anytime soon. 

The Current State of International Shipping

Anything we state now about shipping is subject to change weekly, daily, and sometimes even hourly. The COVID-19 virus and China’s regional shutdowns in manufacturing areas greatly affected production of goods earlier in 2020. As China’s people have recovered from the coronavirus, production has too. Right now their production levels are about 70-75% of normal, and exports have resumed and are increasing too. 

The earlier shipping deficits in February and March, combined with an expected increase in demand in April and May, are going to create some problems. Shipping rates have increased and will continue to increase. There’s also a large imbalance in shipping container supply because China’s imports collapsed in February, so there are few containers in the U.S. and Europe presently. 

President Trump closed travel from Europe to the U.S. in order to fight the advance of the coronavirus, but that decision has caused massive disruption to transatlantic air freight. Without passenger flight service, air freight will have to go through freighter airport hubs, and this will be more expensive and result in more delays. 

Domestic logistics are also tricky right now. There were already trucker shortages in the U.S. Some companies are having to store goods longer than usual because they cannot be immediately shipped domestically from ocean ports.

The COVID-19 Outbreak Continues to Complicate

As the COVID-19 virus has spread to Europe and the U.S. it only makes shipping challenges more complicated. Italy locked itself down entirely last week. Areas of the U.S. like the San Francisco Bay Area are also locking down. In these areas cargo flow slows to a halt. It’s uncertain how many countries will institute lockdowns or what the rules of those lockdowns will be. Currently in the U.S. all terminals and airports continue to be operational, but that is subject to change at any given time. 

It’s hard to predict exactly what will happen with international shipping under these circumstances except to say that resources will be scarcer than usual and shipping costs much higher. That is guaranteed to affect consumer prices on goods and services. 

At Bond Products we want to be open about how the current challenges to the market affect us and, by extension, our customers. We are affected by the mandates of the City of Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, but, unfortunately, these mandates are not the same, so the situation is confusing. At this time we are monitoring both and keeping our business open as we have fewer than 50 employees and are considered in part a hardware store and manufacturer. This may change, of course. If you have any questions about prices or availability of any of our products, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-888-800-BOND. We will be happy to share with you what we know. 

 

 

 

 

Do you need mallets for your flooring installation needs? Bond Products has them! Anyone working in the wood flooring industry knows how useful and necessary rubber mallets are for installing floors. Having the right mallet makes all the difference for this job, so Bond offers several mallet choices as well as a variety of mallet caps to complement them. 

Different Mallets for Different Needs 

We currently offer three single head versions called MI (3.0lbs) and MIII (3.6 lbs). They both have an iron wedge while the third one, H081W, (3.1lbs) has a unique beveled head. All three come with a 6-ring grip and a white cap. Our MII mallet is comparable to Powernail® Mallet MIII. The handle of this mallet is made of 100% American hickory. The 6-ring wood grip is easy to use, and the rings carved into the handle prevent slippage during use and protect wear layer. 

This mallet comes with a replaceable non-marring white mallet cap that protects flooring material and tools from damage. Replacement caps are available for this mallet. They come in white, black, or gray for use with all types of pneumatic flooring nail staplers or nailers. 

The second type of mallet is a double head mallet. This mallet also has a cast steel head, weighs 3.3 pounds, and is 15 inches in length. It too is made of 100% American hickory and has a 6-ring wood ring grip that makes the grip comfortable and easy to hold. The double head design helps to protect the nailer from damage during use. The double head mallet is ideal as a rental tool and can be used with all types of pneumatic flooring nail staplers or nailers. 

The double head mallet comes with two premium mallet caps affixed with chrome plated steel retainer rings. This unit also takes replacement mallet caps in white, black, or gray as necessary. 

Both types of mallets are made in America and designed for hardwood floor installation to allow the user to apply maximum force with little effort. A good mallet makes the job of installing wood flooring simpler, easier, and safer. 

Bond happily supplies replacement mallet caps in white, gray, and black. Each mallet cap has a heavy-duty, chrome-plated steel retention ring that ensures a proper fit. Our mallet caps will fit all major flooring mallet brands. We guarantee they will fit your flooring mallet. Although anyone can use our mallet caps, they are designed for professionals, with long-lasting durability in mind. White and gray mallet caps are non-marring and used for prefinished woods, whereas black mallet caps are used for unfinished woods. All types of our premium mallets caps are sold either by the single cap or by the box (27 replacement caps). Volume options are also available.

If you have any questions about either type of mallet or the replacement mallet caps, call us at 1-888-800-BOND. Our customer service department will be happy to help. And for staples, staple guns, L-cleats, or finish nails for your flooring project, shop our Pro Drive HD™ line of supplies. 

In our January blog we talked about the fact that the Commerce Department had announced preliminary RETROACTIVE ADD duties of 301.64% on ALL Chinese producers and exporters. For any company that sells products made from steel and aluminum, this decision will have an impact on prices. Everything involving China is currently to be determined, however, U.S. customers should anticipate that higher tariffs and effects of the coronavirus will result in more volatile prices for steel and aluminum goods in the future. What can we expect in 2020 for prices on flooring fastener products like staples and finish nails? 

Higher Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum

In January President Trump signed a proclamation that expanded tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from specific countries. This proclamation increased tariffs on derivative steel products 25% and derivative aluminum products 10%. Countries with products exempted from these additional tariffs are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea for steel products and Argentina, Australia, Canada and Mexico for aluminum products. 

These higher tariffs were placed because import volumes of derivative products increased significantly after the original tariffs on steel and aluminum were put in place. Those tariffs increased prices on raw materials, not finished goods. The new proclamations appear to be an order to align the impact of tariffs against finished imported material. In other words, the Department of Commerce is attempting to close any loopholes.

Since the goal of tariffs is to protect and encourage American manufacturing output, if imports increase from the exempted countries, President Trump is likely to increase tariffs on them as well. 

DOC Tariff Changes Do Not Affect Collated Steel Staples 

As of February 8, 2020 the new steel tariffs will affect most nails and other steel fasteners but not collated staples which were specifically excluded. Nail products affected are the following: 

• 7317.00.30        Threaded pins for powder actuated nailers
• 7317.00.5503    Collated wire coil bright nails
• 7317.00.5505    Collated galvanized plastic strip nails
• 7317.00.5507    Collated plastic strip nails (all others, not galvanized)
• 7317.00.5560    Bulk bright threaded nails
• 7317.00.5580    Bulk threaded nails vinyl, resin or cement coated
• 7317.00.6560    Bulk nails not made of round wire, not cut  

China Suffers under the Coronavirus

Complicating matters further, we can expect that any company sourcing Chinese made products will be affected by not only tariffs but also delays in production due to the coronavirus. While the situation with the coronavirus is not clear, many large cities and manufacturing centers in China have been shut down while mill personnel are under quarantine. China’s New Year celebration also impacted production which currently is a month behind normal. 

The coronavirus has affected mills even outside of China too. They rely on China for raw steel and aluminum and if the supply chain comes to a halt, so will their mills. One potential impact is workers who traveled to their homeland in some cases were not permitted to return home due to concerns about the virus. Only recently have some factories returned to work, and they are subject to strict monitoring by the Chinese government. 

Ultimately, this news means that prices for flooring fasteners will be increasing and this is likely to affect staples too in the very near future. Fortunately, Bond Products does not source any of our fasteners from China which means that delays in production and higher tariffs placed on Chinese products will not affect our prices or product availability. 

We live in interesting times, but we can promise our customers that we will continue to offer competitively priced flooring supplies for all of your flooring fastener needs. 

 

 

 

 

This week Brian Milnes is representing Bond Products at Surfaces or The International Surface Event (TISE) in Las Vegas, Nevada. He’s displaying a variety of our products in Tool Alley with Tools 4 Flooring. If you’re not in Las Vegas but would still like to take advantage of the Surfaces 2020 Sale we are running during this convention, you’re in luck!

TISE is the largest North American floor covering, stone, and tile industry event. It’s where flooring professionals go every year to learn about current and upcoming trends in the flooring industry and purchase products related to the flooring trades. Not everyone is able to go to Surfaces 2020, however. If you aren’t, but you’re interested in the products we carry, we encourage you to order through our site using our Surfaces 2020 discount code TISE2020 now. With this code, you will save 10% on any order you spend over $50 on. 

If you are looking to invest in a machine to expand your business’s capabilities, now is the time to buy. Save on our carpet binding machines, portable binders, sergers and tapestry binders. If you need carpet binding tapes, carpet machine parts or carpet binding supplies to go with a new machine purchase, Bond Products has got you covered as well. We sell all the products that you need to work any of these machines to their full capacity. 

If you are considering purchasing a machine and would like to be ready to put it to work right out of the box, we offer a variety of machine package deals. These deals are not subject to the TISE2020 discount code because they are already and always on sale. What kind of deals are these? Well, with the DEAL #1 Bond Model PBB-1X Bobbinless 2×2 Binder 7/8″ Package, you get: 

1. BOND Model PBB-1X Bobbinless Portable Binder w/ 13/16″ folder
2. 25 gr of our top 7/8″ veltron colors (works with 13/16″ folder)
3. FREE Veltron Binding Color Chart
4. 1-1/4″ Serge Tape Folder
5. Folder Bracket & Guide Plate for serge tape folder
6. 5 Pks of our top 1-1/4″ Serge tape colors
7. FREE Cotton Binding & Serge Tape Color Chart
8. 1 box of #25 needles that fit this machine – 100 needles / box
9. Size 75 Cleartone 1.5 LB top thread with canister
10. 12/4 Glazed Cotton bottom thread
11. Bond Spray Lube
12. Bond Sewing Softener
13. Canned Air

As you can see, this is everything you would need to put this machine to work and to maintain it and keep it working well over time. We have 5 different deals for 5 great carpet binding and serging machines. 

Of course, the Surfaces 2020 Sale would be a great time to stock up on all of our Instabind styles and the other binding tapes we offer. For staples, staple guns, mallets, mallet caps, L-cleats, or finish nails for your flooring project, shop our Pro Drive HD™ line of supplies. We have a very large inventory designed to meet all of your needs as a carpet flooring professional or a DIYer. If you have any questions about our catalog or which products would be best for your needs, do not hesitate to call us at 1-888-800-BOND. Shop now and save!

 

January 3, 2020

Commerce Issues Affirmative Preliminary Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Imports of Certain Collated Steel Staples from the People’s Republic of China

The Commerce Department has announced preliminary RETROACTIVE ADD duties of 301.64% on ALL Chinese producers and exporters. This will be on top of the CVD duties of 12.38% that were announced and made effective on June 1, 2019. Any company that was sourcing from China will feel the impact. 

Every importer on record will pay this amount retroactive – 301.64% on shipments arriving after 10-1-2019. Shipments from June 1, 2019 moving forward will pay 12.38% (CVB duties).

The following are points a distributor should consider and questions to ask in light of these new retroactive ADD duties:

• This impacts all staples from 15ga to 19ga shipping from China. This list includes 15ga and 15.5ga hardwood flooring staples, 18ga underlayment/engineering flooring staples,16ga staples “N” wire,and 19ga staples. 
• What will be my prices moving forward with my supplier?
• Can my supplier survive a retroactive tariff bill from U.S. Customs? Note: Any retroactive tariff is due to U.S. Customs within 30 days of invoice.
• Will my current source locate a new supplier without any tariffs? If so, when?
• The question anyone should ask is: Can I trust a new supplier’s manufacturer’s quality?

Distributors who buy from a non-proven new factory take the risk of passing on poor quality products to their customers, potentially impacting relationships they have built at their expense with their current brand. The other choice is committing to the ProDriveHD® brand. This brand will not be impacted by any tariffs or quality issues. 

Please contact us at Bond Products if you want Superior Quality at the Right Price. Our email is sales@bondproducts.com. We have been in business helping our customers find superior quality products at the right price since 1947, and we continue to do so today. You can place your trust in the products you purchase from Bond.

 

 

 

When people who are decorating their homes or talking about flooring choices, they often discuss carpets and rugs, and sometimes they use these words interchangeably. There is a difference between a carpet and rug, though, and we will go over the history of each and how they are defined today. 

What Are Rugs?

The world’s oldest rug is the Pazyryk rug. Woven of wool in the Turkish knot technique, it’s approximately 2400 years old. Rugs have been a part of human history and decorating a long, long time. The origin of the word “rug,” however, is Scandanavian. The Old Norse word “rogg” meant “shaggy tuft.” It made its way into English in the 16th century, evolving from being used to mean a coverlet or wrap in the 1590s to a mat for the floor by 1808. 

Rugs as they are known now as pieces of woven cloth used as floor coverings are defined as being smaller than carpets, no longer than 6 and a half feet long. If the area of the floor covering is 40 square feet or less, it’s considered to be a rug. Rugs also have bound edges and can easily rolled, picked up, and moved from place to place to be cleaned or placed elsewhere. In home decor, rugs are often grouped with pieces of furniture like beds or couches. 

What Is a Carpet?

Carpets are also pieces of fabric used as floor coverings. The word “carpet” comes from the Old French “carpite” meaning a “heavy decorated cloth” and probably before that from the Latin “carpere” meaning “to pluck” because carpets were made of plucked fabric. It entered the English language in the 13th century meaning a coarse cloth, but by the mid-14th century the meaning had evolved to indicate a tablecloth or bedspread. A century later a carpet began to mean a floor covering as it does today. 

Carpets are larger than rugs, usually being defined as stretching the length of entire rooms or being fixed in place. In some places, carpets are used as wall hangings. In medieval castles tapestries were often hung on walls as decorations and to keep large spaces warmer. Carpets, because of their size or because they are permanently fastened to the floor as with wall-to-wall carpet, are not easy to move or clean. Handmade carpets are also generally thicker than rugs.

Both carpets and rugs come in many styles and patterns and are made from a variety of materials, either natural or synthetic. They range in price from extremely affordable (carpet remnants!) to very pricey. Hand woven, one-of-a-kind carpets like Persian or Aubusson carpets are considered to be works of art.  

What Is the Difference between Carpets and Rugs? 

To sum up:

Rugs are smaller than carpets.

Carpets are more permanent fixtures than rugs. 

Bond Products has everything you need to keep your rugs or carpets maintained and repaired. If you want to bind the rug you made yourself from remnants, we have the products for that. If you want to offer carpet binding as a service to your customers, we have the machines you need. For the staples, staple guns, mallets, mallet caps, L-cleats, or finish nails you need to install carpet, shop our Pro Drive HD™ line of supplies. 

 Call Bond for all of your rug or carpet related issues large or small. We are here to help! 

 

 

 

 

The PBB-1X Bobbinless Portable Single Puller 2X2 is a tremendously useful machine for carpet binding. But did you know that the PBB-1X can also apply transition molding to heavy duty entrance mats? It can! This affordable, high-speed binder is a good solution to a variety of carpet needs. 

The PBB-1X

Everyone knows the PBB-1X is great for carpet binding. This bobbinless portable binder is tough, lightweight, and portable. It binds carpet quickly – over 30 feet per minute – and can accommodate various widths of tape with optional folder adjustments. This binder is easy to thread, easy to use, and requires little maintenance to keep it running. It’s Bond’s most economical, heavy-duty, high-speed binder, and we’re very proud of it. 

Did you also know that the PBB-1X can be use to apply transition molding to heavy duty entrance mats? That’s right, it can. This machine glides through thick and tough unitary backings with ease and can attach carpet to rubber transition molding to create entrance mats of any size. How does this work?

How To Apply Transition Molding

In addition to a carpet binder, you will need a few supplies: super glue, seam weights, and scissors. First you cut the carpet to the size that you need, and then you cut your rubber transition molding to fit the carpet, making sure the mitered corners match up. When that is done and you know that everything fits together, you apply the super glue to the transition molding. We carry super glue in 1-pound bottles which is handy for this type of job.

Put a bead of glue right on the flange and use seam weights to press the carpet into the molding so that the superglue adheres correctly and firmly. This takes about a minute. Then you will use your carpet binder with transition guide to sew the edge of the carpet to the molding permanently. It stitches a nice and tight seam into the center of the flange, about 3/4 of an inch into the carpet. When you are done, you will have a finished stitch binding that will last for the life of the carpet as well as a great looking entrance rug. 

If your company makes heavy-duty entrance rugs and needs a machine to apply transition molding, the PBB-1X can get it done. The PBB-2X Portable Bobbinless Double Puller 4X4 carpet binder would also work for this job. Both are backed by Bond Products’ 90-day limited warranty. If you have any questions about the PBB-1X, the PBB-2X, or any of the supplies mentioned, please give our customer service department a call at 1-888-800-BOND. We would be happy to match you up with everything you need.  

 

When a piece of carpet needs to be finished, there are a number of ways to do this. We’ve talked many times about binding carpets and making rugs from carpet remnants. We’ve also mentioned how to add or replace carpet fringes. Another option is carpet serging. What is carpet serging, and why would you choose to finish a carpet this way?

What Is Carpet Serging?

Carpet serging is a sewing technique where the edges of a carpet are wrapped with thread in order to prevent unraveling and give it a beautiful, finished look. Serging uses a continuous wrap of yarn, about 3/8ths of an inch wide, around the edge of a rug. The yarn is selected to perfectly match or complement the color or colors of the rug. While a carpet can be serged by hand and many antique carpets are finished this way, most serging today is done using a carpet serger because serging by hand is extremely time consuming. Serging looks very similar to a traditional whip stitch except that the yarn is even closer together.

What Is the Difference between Binding and Serging a Carpet?

Binding a carpet involves sewing or gluing a binding tape to the edges of a carpet to give it a finished look. There is no whip stitch used and no yarn. When a rug is bound by machine, the binding tape is sewn on with a straight stitch. This is a much less time consuming process.

For rug owners who like the look of serging but do not want to pay a professional to have it serged or sew the rug themselves, another option Bond Products offers is serging tape. We have two options. One is a 100% cotton tape that is 1 and ¼ inch wide, and the other is 7/8ths of an inch wide. Both are attached to a rug with a binding machine. Both give you the elegant look of serging in far less time and for less money. The 1 and ¼ inch serging tapes come in 60 different colors. Due to the thick quality of this tape, this product comes in 2×36 yard rolls and is sold by the package. It does require a serge tape folder to apply. The 7/8th of an inch tapes are available in 12 colors and comes in 25-yard rolls.

One more choice is Instabind which is available in cotton serge binding style for do-it-yourself serging. It comes in 50 different colors. Standard stock roll sizes are 54 or 216 feet, or you may purchase custom sizes by the foot at a $.40/ft up charge.

Pro tip: If you plan on serging an old rug that has worn or torn edges, you will need to back the entire edge with carpet tape before you serge it. If you do not, the worn edges can tear away from the rug and cause more damage when you attempt to serge it. If your rug is antique or an important heirloom, take it to a professional to restore. 

Serging a rug is a good finishing option if you want a smooth, elegant yarn edge. If you would like to try carpet serging on your rug, check out our inventory of tapes and yarns. If you have questions about what product would be best for your needs, don’t hesitate to call our customer service department at 1-888-800-BOND. 

Leftover carpet is one of those ubiquitous items that everyone has somewhere in their house. When having carpet installed, it’s always good to allow for a little extra in case there’s a problem with the installation or if the carpet is damaged later. What do you do with the extra leftover carpet, though? Or the carpet that you replaced that still might have some wear in it? 

How to Reuse Old Carpet 

If you have an old piece of carpet that you do not intend to use for flooring or decorative purposes, there are plenty of life hacks that you can do with the scraps or pieces. Here are some ideas:

Use a piece of old carpet to increase traction under the wheels of your car. If you keep a piece of carpet in your trunk all the time, it could get your unstuck someday by giving your tires something to catch on instead of mud or ice. It’s also much easier to pull out a trunk sized piece of carpet from the trunk and vacuum it than to try to get all of the nooks and crannies with a vacuum attachment. This can double as a picnic rug in a pinch too.

Move a heavy piece of furniture or equipment across your nice floor by putting pieces of old carpet under the legs and sliding them. It will stop you from scratching up the floor while you’re redecorating and save your back too.

Add it to your dog’s kennel or your cat’s scratching post to make your pets more comfortable or entertained.

Keep a piece in your garage or workshop in case you have to kneel when doing chores. Kneeling on carpet is much easier on your knees than kneeling on the hard concrete or the cold, damp ground. 

Put carpet scraps under your plants if you have a tendency to overwater them. 

What to Do with Leftover Carpet

If the carpet scraps you have are new and you’d like to make use of them for projects, there are many other uses too. Many of our customers have used carpet scraps to replace worn or dirty carpet pieces in their cars, boats, or recreational vehicles. With a small investment of time and some Instabind, these spaces can look new again. You do not need to be a rug binding professional either – just some free time, a glue gun, Instabind, a pair of scissors, and a willingness to roll up your sleeves and tackle a project.

Of course, we at Bond Products think that the best use of leftover carpet is an area rug. Binding the edges of a leftover piece of carpet makes a nice piece of flooring for a basement, playroom, patio, treehouse, hall, foyer, or any regular room. Our motto is, “Every hard floor needs a nice area rug.” If you have leftover carpet sitting around, think about transforming it into a rug! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glue guns are an unsung hero of the crafting world. There are many fun and practical uses for glue guns. Bond Products offers 6 different glue guns and the glue supplies you’ll need to use them. Our catalog also contains some useful add-on products to extend the capabilities of glue guns. Our glue guns are great selling products for good reason!

Why Are Glue Guns a Great Glue Solution?

Glue gun glue lasts over time. It doesn’t break down in the same way water soluble glue does because it’s not water based. It’s a thermoplastic adhesive. It reliably holds its shape and grip on whatever you apply it to over time. This type of glue requires heating, and the glue gun applicator is great for keeping fingers safe and applying the glue to targeted surfaces without making a mess. Glue sticks or plugs are fed into the gun, which melts them and passes them through the barrel onto the surface. There it cools, solidifies, sets, and creates a secure bond.

The Bond Products catalog includes 6 different glue guns, including corded and cordless guns that range from basic models to professional pneumatic and spray gun equipment. Our newer guns come with a lighted on/off switch that is so convenient. We offer a variety of glue sticks, glue slugs, and long nozzle glue gun tip that’s helpful to use when applying Instabind.

All of our glue gun models can be used for carpet applications, but the weekend DIYer who has a quick carpet binding project probably will not want to invest in a pneumatic glue gun. One advantage that our basic model glue guns have is that they are heavy duty and durable and a great size. They fit in the hand very well, making them comfortable to use. Professionals in the carpeting industry also use them when they bind carpets with wide edges and mitred corners.

Glue Gun Crafting

There are also a huge number of crafting projects you can use glue guns for. Some of these are artistic, like making glue-stick snowflakes for winter crafts. Others are household hacks like adding a squiggle of glue to the tops of your hangers or the bottoms of your slippers to make them slip free. Glue guns are good for no-sew sewing projects, and decorating glassware. Your imagination is the limit for glue gun crafting.

If you are wondering what kind of glue gun would be best for your needs, we have a handy guide for that as well. We stand by all of our glue guns as high quality and long lasting. If you’re looking for a great glue gun and glue supplies, give us a call today. We’d be happy to supply you with the perfect glue gun for your carpet and crafting projects.