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Stretching power stretcher vs knee kicker, finally got it after 8 years
Been installing since 2016 and always used my knee kicker on hallways and closets when I was in a hurry. Last week on a job in Tacoma, a homeowner was watching me and asked why my seams were visible on a low pile Berber. That hit me hard cause I've never had that complaint before. I pulled out my power stretcher and actually took the time to do it right, and the difference was night and day. Anyone else have that moment where a customer's casual question made you rethink your whole method?
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samk771mo ago
Did you stretch the field differently before, or was it just the power stretcher that fixed it?
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the_terry1mo ago
Yeah I remember reading that power stretchers can actually change how the carpet lays out compared to knee kickers. @samk77, before I got the power one I was using a knee kicker and doing the whole back and forth dance with it. The difference is night and day though, the power stretcher gets the carpet way tighter without you having to fight it. I also watched a few videos on how the stretch direction matters, like you gotta go from the walls outwards in a pattern instead of just pulling any which way. Honestly I think a lot of folks skip the proper technique and just blame the tool, but the power one does most of the heavy lifting for you.
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