Chose a manual kicker over a power stretcher for a tricky hallway job

Last month I had this narrow hallway in an old house with like 5 doorways in a row. Decided to use the manual kicker instead of dragging in the power stretcher, and honestly it worked way better for getting into those tight corners. Anybody else find themselves picking the old school tool over the fancy one sometimes?

2 comments

2 Comments

charles_henderson12d ago

Pulling away from the tack strip after a few days" wait what? That's wild to me. I've never had carpet shrink back like that with a manual kicker unless the padding was completely shot or something.

betty_fisher513d ago

Nah, I gotta push back on this one a little. I've been in those tight hallways with a million doorways and the power stretcher is actually better for me because you can get way more force without having to slam your knee into the wall. The manual kicker always leaves me with slightly uneven stretching around the corners, especially if the carpet is a thicker cut pile. Plus with the power stretcher you can adjust the pressure slow and steady instead of having to guess how hard to kick. I've had to redo too many jobs where the manual kicked carpet started pulling away from the tack strip after a few days.