Bonding Tack Strip for Carpet to Concrete Floors

What is the best adhesive to bond smooth edge tack strip for carpet to a concrete floor?

Check the Liquid Nails Landscape specification

Selleys' product page and its dated technical sheet disagree on Landscape's chemistry, colour, paintability and pack size. Landscape figures below from the November 2020 technical sheet describe that document, not a confirmed specification for every current cartridge. Confirm the matching instructions before painting, choosing a colour, or relying on cure and loading times. See the source comparison and dated documents.

Selleys' answer is that this is not an adhesive job. Tack strips — also called gripper strips or smooth edge — should be fastened using the nails that come in or with them. Selleys does not recommend relying solely on an adhesive, because it may not withstand the stress when the carpet is stretched over the strip.

That is the whole recommendation, and it is worth understanding why it is so firm, because the temptation to glue is strong when the floor is concrete and you would rather not drill it.

Why adhesive alone fails here

Carpet installation applies a load to the strip that is unlike almost any other domestic fixing.

The load is continuous, not occasional. When carpet is power-stretched onto gripper strips, the tension does not release. It sits in the carpet, pulling on every strip around the perimeter of the room, for the life of the installation. An adhesive bond that holds fine on day one is being asked to resist that same force at 3 a.m. in February in year seven.

It is a peel load at the worst possible geometry. The tension acts horizontally at the top of a strip that is only a few millimetres thick, so it tries to lever the back edge of the strip up off the floor. That converts a horizontal pull into a vertical peel at the bond line, which is the weakest way any adhesive can be loaded. Nails resist it because they pass through the strip and into the slab; an adhesive film can only resist it in tension across a very thin bond line.

The concrete surface is often the weakest link. Even where an adhesive grips the strip and the slab perfectly, a laitance layer, curing compound residue or dust on the concrete can shear away from the slab below it. The bond does not fail — the top few tenths of a millimetre of the floor does.

This is the same principle that appears throughout the Selleys range wherever real structural load is involved. Liquid Nails Landscape, the heaviest-duty landscape construction adhesive in the range, states in its own data sheet: do not use as the sole bonding agent for structural bonding. Tack strip under stretched carpet is exactly that situation.

What to do instead

Buy concrete-grade tack strip. It is supplied with hardened masonry nails already set in it, angled for driving into a slab — a different product from the timber-floor version with its finer nails.
Set the strip the correct distance from the wall, with the pins angled towards the wall, and follow the strip manufacturer's spacing.
Drive the supplied nails. On a hard or old slab, pre-drill and use masonry fixings rather than trying to hammer harder — a bent nail leaves a strip that is fixed at one end only.
Where a small number of nails cannot be driven — over a slab-heating pipe, near an expansion joint, or through a membrane you must not penetrate — that is where a construction adhesive has a legitimate supporting role, holding those few sections while the nailed sections carry the tension.
Where the floor is a heated slab or a waterproofing membrane that must not be penetrated at all, this stops being a DIY adhesive question. Talk to the carpet installer or the flooring supplier about a dual-bond or glue-direct installation method, which does not use tack strip at all.

If you are using adhesive as a supplement

For the small number of sections that genuinely cannot be nailed, choose a construction adhesive rated for concrete and prepare the floor properly.

Ensure the surface is sound, dry and free from oil, grease and loose powdery material. If necessary, clean with mineral turpentine and allow it to dry.
Apply dobs or beads of adhesive thick enough to ensure sufficient contact and spread between both surfaces.
Bring the surfaces together before the product skins — within 5 minutes for Liquid Nails Landscape, which has a skin time of 10 to 15 minutes and a tack free time of 35 ± 5 minutes. For Landscape, confirm the specification for your cartridge: the manufacturer sources disagree.
Leave the section undisturbed until the adhesive has cured. Landscape cures at 2 mm per 24 hours and its directions say not to allow traffic or load for at least 24 hours. For Landscape, confirm the specification for your cartridge: the manufacturer sources disagree.
Do not stretch carpet onto adhesive-only sections until the adhesive is fully cured, and do not treat them as load-bearing.

Limitations to keep in mind

Liquid Nails Landscape must not be used as the sole bonding agent for structural bonding, and is not for soft or crumbly materials — which includes a friable or dusty slab surface.
If you reposition a strip after the adhesive has skinned, fresh adhesive must be applied to achieve bonding.
Do not wipe excess squeeze-out. Wait until the product cures and trim it with a sharp blade, taking care not to cut into the bond.
Adhesive under a strip raises it slightly. An uneven strip height telegraphs through carpet at the edge of the room.

Safety: floor-level solvent work in a closed-up room

The answer on this page is that the strip gets nailed, not glued. That is also the lowest-hazard answer, and it is worth saying so explicitly: following the recommendation above removes an exposure rather than just avoiding a failed fixing.

Where solvents do come into this job is the clean-up. Selleys Sealant Remover, named in the questions below for stripping cured adhesive off a slab, carries the signal word Danger and Poison Schedule S5:

H304 — may be fatal if swallowed and enters airways (aspiration hazard, Category 1)
H226 — flammable liquid and vapour
H336 — may cause drowsiness or dizziness
H315 — causes skin irritation

It is Dangerous Goods Class 3, UN 1133, Packing Group II.

H226 and H336 are about the geometry of this particular job. Preparing a floor means kneeling on the slab with your face perhaps half a metre above the work, spreading solvent across a horizontal surface, in a room that is typically emptied and closed up for the install. The vapour from a Class 3 flammable liquid is heavier than air: it does not rise past you and out a window, it spreads across the floor at the height you are working and drains towards the lowest point in the room. So the ignition source to worry about is not a light fitting — it is a gas heater, a wall furnace pilot or a hot water service at skirting level, possibly in the next room. Turn them off, open doors at both ends, and give the slab time to dry before anything is relit.

H336 in that position is not a nuisance either. You are kneeling in the densest part of the vapour for as long as the residue takes to soften. Come out of the room periodically rather than working through.

H304 has one instruction that is the opposite of instinct. If it is swallowed, do not induce vomiting — the hazard is a thin hydrocarbon being drawn into the lungs on the way back up. Call the Poisons Information Centre immediately. Practically, that means keeping it in its own labelled container: never decanted into a soft drink bottle left on a bare floor in a house where someone might reach for it.

Where an adhesive is needed, check its own classification. Liquid Nails Landscape's Australian SDS version 7.0, 16 November 2023, lists Danger: H227, H317 and H318 — combustibility, allergic skin reaction and serious eye damage. Follow the matching pack and SDS for protection, handling and first aid.

Poisons Information Centre — 131 126 in Australia, 0800 764 766 in New Zealand.

Common questions about fixing tack strip to concrete

Can I glue tack strip down instead of nailing it?

Selleys does not recommend relying solely on an adhesive, because it may not withstand the stress when the carpet is stretched over the strip.

What should I use to fix it?

The nails that come in or with the strip. Concrete-grade tack strip is supplied with hardened masonry nails for this purpose.

Is there any Selleys product recommended for this?

No. Selleys nominates the mechanical fixing rather than an adhesive for this application.

What if I cannot nail into the slab?

If the slab contains heating pipes or a membrane that must not be penetrated, discuss an alternative installation method with your carpet installer. That is a flooring specification question rather than an adhesive one.

Can I use adhesive for a few short sections?

As a supplement to nailed sections, yes — but the nailed strip must carry the tension. Prepare the concrete properly and let the adhesive cure fully before stretching.

How long does a construction adhesive need on concrete?

Liquid Nails Landscape cures at 2 mm per 24 hours and its directions say to leave it undisturbed and allow no traffic or loading for at least 24 hours. For Landscape, confirm the specification for your cartridge: the manufacturer sources disagree.

Does the concrete need preparation?

Yes. Sound, dry and free from oil, grease and loose powdery material, cleaned with mineral turpentine and allowed to dry if necessary.

What about the doorway strips?

Door bars and transition strips are a separate fixing with different loads. Follow the strip manufacturer's fixing instructions for those as well.

How do I remove old adhesive from the slab?

Uncured construction adhesive comes off with mineral turpentine; cured product is removed with Selleys Sealant Remover or by mechanical action. See also how to remove Liquid Nails.