Rant: Took me 6 years to realize I was stretching carpet totally wrong

I used to pull the carpet super tight with my knee kicker before power stretching. Thought I was doing it the right way until my old boss stopped by a job in Austin last month and watched me work. He said I was pre-stretching it and causing the backing to separate over time. Now I just lay it loose and let the power stretcher do all the work. Anyone else learn a basic install step they thought they had mastered?

2 comments

2 Comments

craig.mila7d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, SIX years you were doing that?? That is INSANE to me. Pre-stretching with a knee kicker is literally the opposite of how it's supposed to go, I'm honestly shocked your boss let you keep at it that long. You must have been fighting the power stretcher the whole time, right? All those wrinkles you thought you were fixing, you were actually causing. I would have been so mad if I found out I wasted half a decade on bad technique.

craig.john6d ago

Man, how long did it take you to stop fighting the stretcher once you figured it out? I picked up the looser method early on from an old timer and it saved me a lot of headaches. I guess six years of doing it wrong must have built some weird habits into your hands, huh?