MERCER COUNTY Installer: Carpet is just fine

County officials hope a Wednesday will resolve the dispute.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- The installer of the carpeting in Judge Thomas Dobson's courthouse offices said the job was done correctly and he won't redo it.
Bob Lucas, of Lucas Carpets of Sharon, said he followed the architect's blueprints for the carpet job.
Dobson said the directional pattern of the carpet design was installed contrary to instructions given to the manufacturer and installer by the architect.
The job, part of the $12 million courthouse renovation project, was done last summer, and Dobson said he has been trying to get it corrected ever since.
It got to the point that Dobson issued a court order a week ago directing the county commissioners to have the correction made and to sue the manufacturer and installer to recover the cost, if necessary.
He has declined to comment further as he may have to hold a hearing on the issue, he said.
Lucas, a Sharon city councilman, agreed that the design does make it look like the carpet was installed crooked, but that's the result of the office's not being square.
When installing a carpet in such a situation, the installer looks for the main focus wall and tries to make the pattern square with that wall, he said.
If it had been a plain carpet or a carpet with a larger pattern, the fact that the room isn't square wouldn't have been noticeable, he said.
Another problem is that Lucas measured the office for carpeting before the remodeling project began so he could make a bid on the courthouse job.
However, during construction, the interior design of Dobson's chambers was altered, compounding the carpet problem by leaving more floor area to be covered.
What's planned
The county commissioners, Dobson, Lucas, county fiscal people and the architect are scheduled to meet Wednesday in an effort to resolve the issue.
Dobson pointed out in his court order that the previous board of county commissioners agreed in August 2003 that the carpet should be replaced and reaffirmed that decision in November.
Commissioner Olivia Lazor, the only member of that board still in office, recalled that the commissioners agreed that if the carpeting was installed improperly, it would be redone.
However, in checking into the matter, the county has determined that it wasn't installed improperly and the directional pattern of the design is a matter of taste, she said.
The manufacturer has said there is no "correct" way to lay that pattern, Lazor said.
Lucas said the cost of replacing the carpet would run between $1,500 and $4,000, providing that the floor tile to which it is glued doesn't contain any asbestos.
If pulling up the carpet would damage an asbestos tile, a specialty company dealing in asbestos would have to be called in.
However, Lucas said he won't redo the carpet. It's perfectly good carpet and the taxpayers shouldn't pick up the tab for replacing it, he said.
Lazor said one possible solution would be to modify the plain border around the pattern portion of the carpet to make the patterned area appear square. However, the border could have a noticeable difference in width from one end to the other, she said.
"We need to compromise. We need to understand the practicality of it," Lazor said.