Old timer told me I was overstretching carpet, turns out he was right

Guy named Dave with 30 years in told me to ease up on the power stretcher on a nylon carpet job in Phoenix. I thought he was crazy until the seams started puckering on me 3 months later. Has anyone else dealt with carpet memory pulling seams back after installation?

2 comments

2 Comments

karenw903d ago

And that memory thing is real. I had a job up in Flagstaff where we used a heavy power stretch on some luxury nylon, and the carpet just slowly pulled back over the summer heat. Phoenix heat especially will make that stuff relax and shrink back to where it wants to be. Now I leave a little slack on the power stretcher and go back with a knee kicker to fine tune the seams. Saves me from coming back to fix puckers after the first real hot week.

willow7323d ago

That 3 month mark you mentioned is exactly when Phoenix heat really tests a carpet install. I had a similar learning curve with nylon in Tucson a few years back. It made me think about how in a lot of things we push too hard right away thinking it'll hold better, but the material usually just needs room to settle into its own shape over time. Same idea with how I pack a suitcase - if I overstuff it, the zipper eventually pops and everything relaxes anyway. Your old timer Dave was on to something about trusting the material to find its own place instead of forcing it.