Tried stretching a berber carpet with a knee kicker only, total mistake

Ngl, I figured I'd save time on a small bedroom job and skipped the power stretcher, ended up with ripples showing up after 2 days cause the berber just wouldn't lock in tight. Has anyone else had berber pull loose like that without a power stretcher?

2 comments

2 Comments

kair659d agoTop Commenter

Funny enough, I've had the opposite luck with berber and a knee kicker on a few smaller rooms, maybe it depends on the backing and pad combo you're running. @robinson.paul makes a solid point about the power stretcher being ideal, but if you're working a tiny 8x8 closet or something, you can sometimes cheat it by doing multiple passes and really digging the teeth in. Could be your pad was too soft or the glue strip wasn't tacky enough, those two things will make any berber slip regardless of the tool you drag out.

robinson.paul9d ago

Four days after I padded and stretched a berber with just a knee kicker in my own rental property, it was already bunching by the baseboards on the west wall. That stuff is stiff plastic yarn bonded to a backing that doesn't give much at all. The knee kicker only pushes maybe 2 inches of carpet at a time while a power stretcher grabs a 6 foot span and locks the whole thing down. You probably got it tight initially but the tufting relaxed back overnight because you couldn't get enough tension past the first couple feet. Save yourself the redo and rent the proper tool next time, it's like ten bucks for the day.