A Brief Idea About Carpet Rippling, Carpet Stretching Tools and Techniques

 Carpet starching is a tough job. Here you can find some reasons regarding why carpets ripple, the tools for carpet stretching and DIY tips for re-stretching to make it flat and look nice.

Carpet is the most adorable thing for interior decoration. I personally like laying this material over the house. This needs a good power stretcher after all.

However, we do carpet stretching generally on two occasions one while laying them for the first time another at the time of repairing them. Stretching ensures a smooth, flat and secure laying.

We also need to re-stretch them sometimes because they ripple and bulge. See below what are the reasons that cause rippling.

Improper installation: The carpets are not being installed properly when they are laid for the first time. This causes rippling to occur within a very short span of time after installation. It needs a hard stretching in any way.

Excess traffic: The flooring material gets rippled due to too much traffic over it. Mainly wheel chairs and walkers make the most damage.

Sliding furniture: You need to be very careful while sliding furniture on a carpet laying floor. The sliding of these pieces often loosens up the decorative element from the edges.

Deteriorating latex: If the latex deteriorates at the edges the carpet ripples or bulges.

The Carpet Stretching Tools:

There are many tools which can be used for stretching a carpet. These professional equipment's are available in the market or you can get them rented. You can even hire someone who is an expert in laying or re-stretching carpet in Perth. 

Here are some of the tools, which are generally used:

1.       Knee stretcher: This is also known as kicker. This is a special tool that has got a grip on one end to attach the mat and a pad on another end. To use this device you have to kick with your quadriceps.

2.       Slotted blade knife: This is a pre-requisite for every stretching job. It is used for trimming the edges after the material is stretched.

3.       Staple gun: This staple gun is different from a regular staple gun. This is narrower and can fit in between the gaps. This gun ensures that the edges are tightly fitted.

4.       Awl: This looks like an ice pick. This is generally used for dis-attaching the rug from the tack strip.

Stretching Technique:

At first you need to vacant the room. Take out all the furniture and start your work.

Decide at which direction the rug needs to be pulled. Most of the cases it is found that it needs to be pulled at one end only.

Now you should use an awl to lift it from the edges. You can do this by digging the flooring material from the corner.

Set the carpet stretcher on the material. Set it like that the foot should be at the base and the head should be a few inches up from the wall. Stretching tool is a powerful tool that can tear the carpet as well. So be careful while using it.

Start working from the center of the room and stretch it towards the corner of the room.

Use a staple gun to ensure the edges have been fixed properly.