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Guy at a supply house in Dayton told me to stop stretching carpet tight, and I still think about it
I was picking up tack strip and seaming tape at a supply house off Needmore Road about 8 months ago, and this older installer, probably been doing it 30 plus years, watched me load my van and asked what kind of tension I run on my power stretcher. I told him I crank it as tight as it goes, always have, that is how I was taught. He laughed and said he has replaced three carpets in the last two years that got torn at the seams because guys like me overstretch, and that a carpet needs to breathe a little or it will pull itself apart at the seam in a year. I stood there for like 10 minutes arguing with him because tight means no wrinkles, right, that is the whole job. He told me he only stretches to the point where the backing starts to feel firm and then stops, no matter what the book says. I did two bedrooms in Springfield last month his way and honestly the seams sat flatter than mine ever do. Now I am second guessing everything I learned. Any of you been told something like this by an old timer, and did you actually change how you work?
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nancy1549d ago
Carpet does need to breathe a little, the old guy is right. Cranking it max tight is how you get popped seams a year later.
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