Tried a power stretcher on a curved staircase and it backfired hard

I was working on a spiral staircase in a house out in Aurora last Tuesday, had the power stretcher braced wrong against the wall. The whole section popped loose and the carpet bunched up halfway down the steps. Anybody else run into trouble with power stretchers on weird stair layouts?

2 comments

2 Comments

parker_bell8d ago

Pre-cutting carpet strips to match the shape", does that actually work on tight spirals though?

seth_green858d ago

...and the thing nobody talks about is that power stretchers are basically DESIGNED for straight runs. They're built with this assumption that every floor is flat and every corner is 90 degrees. I ran into this exact mess last fall on a curved staircase in a old Victorian. The issue is the head of the stretcher needs a solid anchor point, but on a spiral the wall angle changes every few steps. You gotta use a knee kicker way more than you want to, and even then you're fighting the curve. Honestly, I think the real trick is pre-cutting your carpet strips to match the stair shape before you even touch the stretcher. It's more work upfront but saves you from that bunching nightmare.