Old timer told me to never use a power stretcher on stairs back in 2008

Guy named Doug who had been installing since the 70s swore up and down that hand knee kickers were the only way to do stairs without rippling. I followed his advice for years and always struggled with wrinkled stair runners. Switched to a power stretcher on a set of 14 steps last month and it came out perfect first try. Anyone else get handed bad "old school" advice that you stuck with way too long?

2 comments

2 Comments

kai_stone994d ago

Old Doug would've had my head for using a power stretcher on my own staircase back in the day. Carpet from the 70s and 80s had way more backing and stretch to it than the stuff we get now, so old school tools actually worked better back then. Hand kicking a modern stair runner is like trying to use a flip phone for streaming it just ain't built for how materials behave today.

ray2104d ago

My buddy Jerry who runs a bait shop swears by the same kind of thinking with fishing rods he says you gotta use fiberglass like in the 80s because graphite is too stiff. But I see this pattern everywhere now with all kinds of trades and hobbies honestly. Materials and tools change so much over time that what worked perfect in 1988 might be fighting against you in 2024. It's like people forget that carpet backing got thinner and stretchier and glue formulas got completely different too. Old Doug meant well but he was probably just passing down advice that was already twenty years old when he got it.