Vent: That "stretch in one pass" trick ruins your seams

I keep seeing guys on YouTube trying to stretch a full room in one go with just a knee kicker. In my experience, that's a fast way to get ripples and popped seams a month later. I work out of Denver and we get a lot of dry air, so the carpet relaxes after a few weeks. If you don't power stretch in sections, that initial tension fades unevenly. I had a job last fall where the homeowner called me back because the hallway seam looked wavy. He showed me a video he watched where the guy made it look easy. It took me an extra hour to re-stretch it properly with a power stretcher and trim the seam. Has anyone else had to fix a job that was stretched this way?

3 comments

3 Comments

angela_grant3d ago

Gotta disagree a bit on the knee kicker thing. You can actually use it fine for small rooms or closets, just not bigger spaces like hallways or living rooms. That's where people mess up thinking it works everywhere.

jakel363d ago

Hold on @angela_grant, are folks really messing that up that bad with a knee kicker? I mean, it's just a tool for getting carpet tight against the wall, not some kind of magic wand. If someone tries it on a whole living room, they're just not thinking straight. A power stretcher exists for a reason. Seems like common sense to me, not a big point of disagreement.

jamesm483d ago

Right? I swear I learned this the hard way trying to carpet a walk-in closet with just a knee kicker and it turned out fine, but then I tried the same thing on a hallway and it came out all loose and wrinkly looking. That hallway was only like 8 feet long too, but the kicker just couldn't get the stretch right across the whole width. It's like people think if it works in a 4x4 closet it'll work anywhere, but the physics just don't play out. I've seen guys try to do a whole bedroom with one and end up with weird ripples by the door.