# Legato Carpet System



## Nathan

Has anyone used this product? 

Legato Carpet System 

It's an appealing solution for basements but it seems like it would come up too easy. Any Thoughts?

-Nathan


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## Floorwizard

Legato is a Home depot deal, and It should work fine. There are higher end products in the Tesserea line, they are squares and not squigles. Tesserea is made with an Anso caress nylon and it is a heavier weight, but the Legato would work fine too. No worries about them moving or coming up, unless you installed wrong, or if you have a 800 horsepower vacuume cleaner.


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## Nathan

Well, how do I install them right so they wont come up?


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## Floorwizard

It's quite easy, all you need to do is lay them down next to each other. There is a grip substance on the back that will keep them from sliding around. The trick is to fluff up the sides so you do not trap fiber inbetween the seams. Other than that, its a breeze. You should only be making cuts when you get to the wall. Cut from the back, and your all set.


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## Nathan

*Sounds good!*

*We may use them at our church for a kid’s area. It’s nice that they already have the padding included, and its a cheap alternative.*



*If we change buildings in a year can we take up the squares and move them or does that mess up the adhesive?*


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## Floorwizard

Take them up, and reinstall. No problems there except the new room you use them for needs to be smaller, unless you have extra.


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## Guest

I just installed some of this Legato and after one vacuuming I can still see some obvious lines. Will these go away?


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## Guest

No seam will be invisible, but there are some things you can do with this system to help make it unoticable.
When you first install, it is crucial that you take your hand along the edge, and lift the fibers up, so when you lay the next piece, the fibers will not be crammed inbetween the tiles.


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## Floorwizard

OOps...that last post was me, but I guess my cookie crumbled cause I wasn't auto logged in when I entered the site.


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## Guest

I guess what I was asking was whether the seams look better after a while or if "what you see is what you get" after you install it? Will it look better in a month than it does now?


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## Floorwizard

The seams will probably look better after a month of vacumming. But if the fibers were never lifted before install, then the seams will not look as good as they can.


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## nomoretime

Did a living room and dining room. Went down easy, looks good. Trick is to make sure that you fluff up the edges and don't catch any fibers between. Push hard to get a tight fit. No adhesive is used. When you cut keep replacing the blade to make sure the cuts are clean. Also use a straight edge guide for the cut. Seams will almost disappear after a month of running the vaccum. Keep some extra panels around for when the kids stain the rug. Then its an easy replacement. Not all that cheap. Cost me over $1000 to cover 11 X 18 foot living room and a 12 by 11 dining room. .


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## Floorwizard

3 bucks a square foot isnt bad if you got the higher end stuff which uses tactesse nylon.


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## Guest

*can you get the kind you mentioned at Home Depot?*



Florcraft said:


> 3 bucks a square foot isnt bad if you got the higher end stuff which uses tactesse nylon.


I am considering buying the Legato system in my living/dining room --open space 22x13. Is this good quality carpet? Where else can I find this besides Home Depot? I remember its 100% nylon, but don't remember if its the type you mentioned.
Thanks in advance,
Daniela in Co


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## Floorwizard

call your local flooring stores, and ask if they have Tesserea, that's it's maiden name.

better yet

www.carpetone.com

type in your zipcode and find a store near you. They might have it.


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## Guest

*legato carpet*

attempted to install this past weekend. Not that easy, since having to do so many cuts. Anyway, laid several boxes, no cuts yet and it looked terrible. Friend helping me, tried also. We had no trapped fibers, vaccumed, and each and every seam is noticable. So spent rest of day looking at carpet stores, called home depot and they would take it back, so pulled it up, re-loaded a truckload and returned it all.


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## Guest

*legato?...forgeto!*

Not easy is right. I really considered buying this carpet...sure glad I didn't after reading these reviews. This carpet had to be special ordered at Home Depots in my area. I was afraid of seams showing too. Download the install PDF if you can, that's what made me decide against it. I do not need that kind of grief. I bought some carpet at Lowes and had them install.


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## Floorwizard

Tesserea goes together great. I have not installed Legato, but I think the wavy ends make it harder.
check out samples of tesserea, I have had NO problems with it.


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## Nathan

Is there a big price difference between the two?


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## Floorwizard

I would imagine there is. Tesserea is a higher end branded soft fiber yarn. I have not went to the Depot to look at prices.


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## Guest

*Legato Perfecto!*

Just put down Legato squares in 12x12 basement room and it could not have been easier! 1.5 hours even with having to remove the door to trim down for clearance. Being a perfectionistic, experienced D.I.Y.er helped but I really am hooked! No seams at all but I did painstakingly keep fibers away from intersections. A tight toothed comb helps keep them under control while installing. I love this stuff...now if only one didn't have to special order fun colors! My next attempt will be a multi colored tile pattern for the game room!


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## Guest

*do you happen to have a digi pic of the flooring ?*

am considering converting our lower level (trilevel home) to Legato.
thanks
[email protected]


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## Nathan

Do you have a question for us?


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## Guest

Unregistered said:


> attempted to install this past weekend. Not that easy, since having to do so many cuts. Anyway, laid several boxes, no cuts yet and it looked terrible. Friend helping me, tried also. We had no trapped fibers, vaccumed, and each and every seam is noticable. So spent rest of day looking at carpet stores, called home depot and they would take it back, so pulled it up, re-loaded a truckload and returned it all.


Really? I've had no problems with it. I did a bedroom and am doing a second one and it looks great. I wonder if you read the instructions regarding keeping the arrows on the back pointing the same way.


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## Guest

I'm looking at this legato carpet tile system, and I can't find any instructions on how to do odd shaped rooms. I'd like to put it in my living room, which is a big L shaped room that combines with the dining room. It looks like you have to be careful about the layout to avoid pieces smaller than 6 inches wide. Is there any way to do this without moving all the furniture out? The room layout tool on their web site seems to only account for square rooms.

thanks!


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## Guest

*bedroom?*

Would the legato carpeting be good for a bedroom w/ a 2ish foot deep closet, and a window section thingy (kinda shaped like this /--\ just move the -- up to the top). I don't know if it would be possible to properly carpet those areas with the legato squares. I would imagine there would be many necessary cuts. If someone has done an odd shaped room like this, can you give me some advice? Should legato be used, or should i just let the carpet people do it the old fashioned way?


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## Guest

about the room i just mentioned, it looks kinda like this

www.geocities.com/lieutnantcolonel/untitled.jpg

its a crude drawing, but i'm sure you get the point, any ideas on this would be helpful.


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## Guest

www.geocities.com/lieutnantcolonel/untitled.JPG

that should work, sorry about the bad link


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## Floorwizard

Legato would be fine for that room. It just means more cuts, but that's no biggie.


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## Guest

*Tesserea vs. Legato*

Do you know if the backing (or padding) on the Tesserea is any thicker than on the Legato?


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## Floorwizard

Milliken carries 2 different qualities of this stuff. Both qualities have the same thickness pad from what I recall, but the higher end pad is denser.


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## gmpolo

Nathan said:


> Has anyone used this product?
> 
> Legato Carpet System
> 
> It's an appealing solution for basements but it seems like it would come up too easy. Any Thoughts?
> 
> -Nathan


I have recently installed about 1100 sq/ of the Tesserae Spectrum (the higher grade of the two Tesserea) and am having problems. Milliken is tring to walk away from the problem. The carpet is installed in a basement. Will not support active play from teenagers. Moves and creates gaps.


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## gmpolo

*Tesserae problems*

Recently installed about 1100 sq of Tesserae in a basement. Carpet shifts and creates gaps under active play from teenagers. Not a good product for areas where a lot of pushing off occurs such as foosball tables, air hockey tables, ping pong tables etc. Compresses under baseboards and compresses against other tile to raise the seams. I recommend using this product only in areas where people will be sitting or walking. Milliken, the manufacturer is not willing to address the problem, at least so far. We'll see how it gets resolved. 
Gary


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## Floorwizard

Wierd. I installed 1000 sq feet in a rec room with all sorts of equipment and a busy household.
No problems to speak of in the last year.

I wonder if the problem stems from something else.

Did you buy from a store?
Who is working with Milliken?


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## Craig8182

*re: Tesserae problem*

I recommend the Tesserae over the Legato. The seams were much more noticable with the Legato. I stair-stepped the Tesserae panels and it almost looks like a scuptured carpet. But the seams are still visible after 3 weeks.
As to the problem with the panels moving and getting gaps, I suspect the floor under the carpet as the culprit. I installed mine over a wood subfloor and went to the precaution of applying a coat of primer. The carpet seemed to like having a uniform surface to adher to and hasn't moved despite two very active dogs and 4 cats (a couple that still insist on trying to sharpen the claws on the carpeting).
The Tesserae is a higher end carpet than the Legato and feels fabulous with bare feet. Check the internet for some of the discount carpet places. I bought the Tesserae for about the same price (including the shipping) than I could get the Legato from H D.
All-in-all, the Tesserae is a very nice product. Take your time designing your layout before you start to conserve wasting pieces (just think of each square as a $10 bill), double check before you cut and try not to trap those pesky little stray yarns.


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## SteveNet

Craig,

"The Tesserae is a higher end carpet than the Legato and feels fabulous with bare feet. Check the internet for some of the discount carpet places. I bought the Tesserae for about the same price (including the shipping) than I could get the Legato from H D."

If you could provide me (us) with a link I would appreciate it as I cannot find any sites that have 'Tesserae' cheaper than H.D. 
Although I'm interested in the 'Spectrum' line of Tesserae.

Thanks.


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## Demonseed

I did about 500 SF of Tesserae carpet (The only install of this I have done so my memory of specifics may be hazy) in a basement over the summer. Even though it was not required I did Prime the floor prior to the install, It did take me longer than I expected because I was just told it was Carpet tile, the customer had an L shaped basement full of furniture, but we had no problems with the tiles shifting when he moved the furniture back and forth.

Most of the seams were practically invisible after the intial install, I would assume they blended better after some time. The person who mentioned it was bunching or curling, you made the cuts too tight and tried to force them in.

I would not consider this a DIY material, considering the Price and what is involved. If I remember correctly I actually layed out the job according to the direction of the tiles ( I am pretty sure they were 2x2 ), so the 'down' side started in the front with the 'up' side meeting to it ( I can't think of the proper term, but this prevented alot of trapped fibers in the 'cross' seams of the tiles).

I highly recommend priming concrete (or most surfaces) prior to the installation of any self stick carpet, the basic reasoning is it will not hurt anything, I do recall the installation directions saying it was not needed, but I do alot of C+A, it just works better. 

Another note, the customer asked me about installing this material on their stairs, I quickly talked them out of it.






Florcraft said:


> Wierd. I installed 1000 sq feet in a rec room with all sorts of equipment and a busy household.
> No problems to speak of in the last year.
> 
> I wonder if the problem stems from something else.
> 
> Did you buy from a store?
> Who is working with Milliken?


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## Krichton

Legato is very expensive for what it is. It's simply not worth it in my opinion.


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## SteveNet

*Milliken Legato vs Tesserae*

After just getting off the phone with the manufacturer Milliken they tell me that Legato is a Home Depot name for the bottom of the line Tesserae (touch series). (Same carpet)

Lowe's also sells the tiles with their own name of "Design Zone Arouse" for about 33% more than Home Depot. 
Home depot has the `wave` cut at 35 sq ft per box while Lowes has the `square` cut at 40 sq ft per box.
According to Milliken they are both Tesserae `Touch` carpet. (Same carpet)

The reason I mention this is because other online vendors also sell "Tesserae" at widely different prices sometimes without mentioning if it's a `Touch` series or a top of the line `Spectrum` series.
And care should be taken to ensure you are getting what you are paying for.

This might explain dissatisfaction after the installation of the quality of the "Tesserae". 
It's all Tesserae, you just have to know how the `name` shell game is played to get what your looking for.


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