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Among the excellent aspects of wall-to-wall carpets is that their surface is completely smooth and wrinkle-free. If you've ever viewed carpet being installed, you know that it didn't get flat on its own-- the installers needed to wrestle it with unique stretching tools.
Carpet Stretching Tools
The two primary tools are the aptly called power stretcher and the knee kicker. Both have flat, aluminum heads that are fitted with rows of adjustable steel teeth, angled forward so they can grip onto the carpet.
Knee Kicker
A knee kicker is a toll that is about 20 inches long, with a square toothy head on one end and an equally-sized knee pad at the opposite end.
Power Stretcher
A power stretcher has a bigger rectangle-shaped head, typically about 15 inches wide, that's linked by a spring-loaded lever to a series of telescoping tubes that terminate in a padded block.
Depending on the model, it can be extended up to nearly 40 feet in length so that the stretcher can pull against the opposite wall. A good-quality kicker is less than $100, but power stretchers begin at around $500. So unless you're entering into the carpet business, it makes sense to lease, rather than buy. Here's how to use them:
Installing/Stretching Carpet
When you're installing brand-new carpet, the first thing you'll need to do is nail tack strips around the border of the room.
Tack strips look like old-fashioned wood yardsticks pre-nailed with little, very sharp pins. These strips bite into the carpet and keep it in place.
Leave an area of a number of inches in between the strip and the wall. Set up the carpet pad, which should cover the floor within the boundary developed by the tack strips. Utilize a hammer tacker to staple down the pad, then you can deploy the carpet.
The first carpet stretching tool you'll utilize is the knee kicker. First, examine the depth of the teeth-- when the head is pushed down on the carpet, the teeth need to bite into the stack and support, however not extend through it. You can utilize the dial on the kicker's head to adjust the depth of the teeth.
Beginning in one corner, press the kicker head firmly into the carpet a few inches far from the tack strip, and utilize your knee to strike the kicker's padded end. Keep pressure on the kicker and press the edge of the carpet down onto the tack strip, making certain to leave some excess carpet against the wall that you can later trim at the baseboard.
Repeat these steps along the same wall until the carpet is tight. With the carpet in location along the very first wall, put together and adjust the power stretcher so that its head is a few inches opposite from the very first wall and the cushioned tail block is placed versus the very first wall's baseboard.
Press the head's teeth into the carpet, again examining that the teeth are adjusted to the appropriate length. Now engage the mechanism by pulling back on the level, which will press the carpet towards the second wall. Keep an eye on the lever's adjustable stress; excessive tension can harm the carpet and inadequate will leave slack.
Press the carpet down into the tack strip to lock it in place and move the assembly to the next section of carpet. When the carpet is stretched towards the second wall, use the knee kicker to attach the carpet on the next perpendicular wall and stretch it to the last wall with the power stretcher. Once the carpets has been successfully stretched across the room, utilize a curved carpet knife or sharp energy knife to trim the edges. Utilizing one hand to push the carpet down into the intersection of the baseboard and flooring, remove the excess with the knife.
If your rental center has one, you can use a specialized carpet edging tool rather of a knife to make clean cuts against the baseboard. At this point, it's helpful to have a stair tool, which has a heavy, broad steel blade. Installers use stair tools to wedge the cut carpet down into the crevice in between the tack strip and the baseboard.
Stretching Older Carpets
These exact same extending tools can be utilized to work their magic on older wall-to-wall carpeting that has developed loose spots and ripples.
Start by peeling the carpet from the border tack strips. If the tack strips are decomposing due to water damage or have actually lost their grip since they've been pounded down from foot traffic, it might be necessary to replace them with new strips. Roll the carpet back into location, and, using a knee kicker, lock down the carpet along the very first wall, then continue the process with the power stretcher.
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