Carpet laying

[WearyLady]

I’ve just bought a 1930s house and have found that all the carpets are made of runner-type strips. A lady in a carpet shop told me that all (most?) carpets used to come in 27inch strips and the carpet layer would join them to make a carpet of the appropriate size. Does anyone know when the practice ended? I’m fairly old and have no memory of my parents having carpets laid like this so it must be going back a fair way.

In general that practice ended decades ago. Tho I remember we used to sell really good quality patterned carpet in the early 80s that was available only in narrow strips and only manufactured by the day shift to minimise production faults/errors.

our first flat in 1974 we bought full width carpet, and in the 60s we had fitted full width carpet in our house so probably the 1940s 50s when it started to fade out in strips

I remember our fitter joining lengths by sewing them together. Later on the used to use a heat welded glue tape.

Thanks ladies. So it looks like my carpets go back at least til the early eighties and possibly earlier. They’ve lasted well!