Why is there a gap between the carpet tack strip and the wall

carpet

This house was built in 1951. The house was "flipped" and the previous owner put in builder grade carpet with no carpet pad.

When I pulled up the carpet observed this odd gap between the carpet tack strip and the wall. It looks like someone removed a strip of the concrete foundation. The strip is about 3/4 inch deep and 1.5 inch wide.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this before?

Carpet 1 Carpet 2

Best Answer

Usually the tack strips are away from the wall to provide room for the carpet to go over the tacks then under the mouldings. It looks like your mouldings are flush on the wall but that could just be my phone not providing enough resolution.