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Can we talk about how everyone swears by power stretchers? A job in Tulsa changed my mind
Everyone on here acts like you can't lay a carpet without a power stretcher, but last month on a 14 by 18 bedroom in Tulsa I ran into a wrinkle right by the doorway after I'd already knee-kicked it tight. I tried my power stretcher and it just pulled the whole thing sideways and made the buckle worse, so I yanked it off and went back to my knee kicker with a stair tool to work that corner by hand. Took me about 45 extra minutes but the carpet laid flat and the homeowner never saw a single ripple. I'm not saying power stretchers are junk, I just think folks lean on them too hard on smaller rooms with weird corners.
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val_taylor8d ago
That "pulled the whole thing sideways and made the buckle worse" part sounds real familiar. I had a small den last year with a bay window and the same thing happened, the stretcher kept wanting to walk the carpet toward the open side of the room. What worked for me was setting up so I stretched away from the odd corner first and saved that spot for last, then worked it in with the knee kicker and a stair tool just like you did. It's slow going but you can feel the backing give a little at a time instead of fighting the whole room at once. I still use the power stretcher on the main field of bigger rooms, it's the weird little corners where it stops helping and starts hurting. Takes some patience but the carpet tells you when it's tight.
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