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Tried to stretch a hallway with a knee kicker from the wrong side
Had a job in a tight 1970s split-level last month, the hallway was maybe 30 inches wide. My power stretcher head wouldn't fit, so I thought I'd be clever and use the knee kicker from the far end, pushing the carpet back toward me. It worked for about two feet before the whole piece just accordioned up in the middle like a giant fabric wave. The homeowner walked by and just said, 'Well, that's a new look.' I had to pull all the tacks and start over from the proper wall. Anyone ever make a hallway stretch work from the wrong side, or is that just a guaranteed disaster?
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jason_lewis319d agoMost Upvoted
Yeah, the carpet punishing you for getting cute is spot on. I watched a guy try to force a seam closed with a knee kicker on a commercial glue-down, said he could "feel it locking in." Ripped the backing right down the middle, had to order a whole new box of tile.
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avery_ross19d ago
Honestly it's not that big of a deal, just a minor setback. We've all tried shortcuts that backfired, it's part of the job. Pulling tacks and restarting is annoying but it's hardly a disaster.
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davis.noah19d ago
Oh man, that exact thing happened to me on a townhouse job. I mean, you get in that tight spot and logic just flies out the window, right? I tried the same move with a narrow stair runner once, thinking I could just bump it from the top. Total accordion, idk what I was thinking. It's like the carpet just finds a way to punish you for getting cute with it. Starting over from the right wall is the only fix, but man does it hurt your pride when you have to pull all those tacks.
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