PSA: That new stretch-in tool I bought at the Atlanta trade show nearly ruined a job

I was at the carpet expo in Atlanta last month and picked up that new PowerStretch 3000 with the padded handle... looked great in the demo. First real job with it was a big living room in a house up in Alpharetta, about 400 square feet of a nice berber. The thing kept slipping on the backing and left a few small ripples that I had to redo by hand. Ended up using my old Kooler Kutter knee kicker to finish the seams properly. Has anyone else had trouble with those newer stretch tools... or did I just get a bad one?

2 comments

2 Comments

phoenix_grant348d ago

Yeah, that "looked great in the demo" part got me too. I fell for the same thing with a new stretcher last year. My experience is those padded handle tools are fine for commercial grade carpet with a good latex backing, but on berber or anything with a softer backing, they just don't grab right. The demo carpet they use at shows is usually a stiff, high quality piece that makes any tool look good. Real world is different. I'd say try it on a low pile synthetic or a glue-down job, but for residential berber stick with your old Kooler Kutter. Those older metal tools have a better grip pattern that bites into the backing better. Take this with a grain of salt but I think the newer tools are made more for speed than reliability.

jake9868d ago

Not gonna lie, it sounds like you're overthinking this a bit lol. Is a stretcher really that high stakes? Broken is broken, demo is demo, just swap it out if it doesn't work for you.