PSA: check your knee kicker before blaming the carpet on a restretch

Did a restretch in a rental unit over in Mesa about 3 weeks ago, and the carpet kept bubbling up behind me no matter what I did. Figured it was the pad being too far gone, so I quoted the landlord $180 to replace a section in the hallway. My buddy Lou swung by for a different job the next day, picked up my kicker, and said the head was worn down flat, which is why I was getting zero bite on the stretch. He let me borrow his, and the same carpet locked in tight on the first pass. I felt like a total rookie after 11 years on the truck. Anyone got a rule for how often you swap kicker heads or is it just whenever it feels mushy?

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henrys744d ago

The head was worn down flat and that was your whole problem? I don't buy it. A worn head costs you some bite, sure, but if the carpet is bubbling up behind you on every pass that is a technique issue, not a tool issue. You probably weren't knee kicking hard enough into the corner and letting the stretch run out before you tucked, and a fresh head just covered up the bad habit for one job. Lou's kicker felt better because it was different in your hands, not because yours was dead. I've seen guys run the same beat head for years and lock carpet in fine, so telling people to swap heads before they look at their own form is backwards. Bet you ten bucks that hallway section you quoted was never the pad either.

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