Carpet is an essential part of your home and office as it gives an aesthetic look to your space. Though most carpets are durable, they still start forming ripples, lumps, and wrinkles over time. The presence of these wrinkles decreases the beauty and comfort of your home floors, and ultimately, you start thinking about replacing the carpet with a new one. However it is not always possible as replacing a carpet will be a costly decision; you can fix this issue by the simple process of carpet stretching.
Carpet Stretching
Carpet stretching is a process that we do to tighten the carpet; it removes the wrinkles and lumps present on the surface. The presence of these ripples on the carpet could be a safety hazard as you can fall on the carpet due to them.
Purpose of Carpet Stretching
With time, your carpet starts showing signs of damage such as lumps and crinkles. The presence of these lumps on the carpet could cause injuries to a person, and when you feel these issues are increasing, it is time to fix them. This solution can increase the lifespan of your carpet and can keep you from further investment for some time. People use different tools for carpet installation and fixing, like stretchers and kickers. Here, we will guide you on how carpet stretching works.
How To Do Carpet Stretching
There are some simple steps that you can do to fix lumps and wrinkles on your carpet.
Clean The Room
The first step is to clean the room thoroughly before stretching. Remove all the furniture from the room, including tables, bookshelves, and chairs. This will be a time-consuming process, but it is necessary to remove these things first, which will make it easy to do your work of carpet tightening.
Wash The Carpet
After cleaning the room, clean the carpet properly to remove dust and debris. You can use a mild carpet shampoo or dedicated carpet cleaner to wash it. Doing so will provide you with a clean and clear area to work over and will generate better outcomes.
Dry By Vacuuming
After washing the carpet, it is recommended to dry it completely and remove all the moisture because the presence of water could also be a reason for more lumps on the rug. You can use a vacuum cleaner to dry it. This will increase the lifespan of your carpet.
Place the tacks
After the carpet has been washed and dried completely, you should place the tacks on it. The tacks hold the carpeting well and keep it in place. The carpet tacks are also known as gripper rods that are used in the installation process of carpets. There are several nails in the tack strips that ensure good finishing.
Use a Stretcher and Kicker
You can use different tools for fixing stretching on the carpet. Power stretcher and knee kicker are two most common tools you can use to remove all the crumples and straighten the carpeting. There are different types of stretchers and we have explained them briefly for you.
- Double-Spiked Stretcher
The double-spiked stretcher is also used to stiffen the carpet. It is widely used because the stretching process becomes easy and quick with it. There is no need to extend pipes in a double-spiked stretcher, and there is no possibility of furniture damage as well. However, some carpet experts recommend not to use it because it causes marks on the carpet’s surface.
- Pipe-Stretcher
The pipe-stretcher has pipes that tighten and hold the carpet wall-to-wall, but using this stretcher could be a time-consuming process because you need to move furniture first. If you are not that busy, you can consider using a pipe stretcher.
Talking about the knee kicker, you can use it to place the carpet down on the floor. People use it on a commercial level and for homes too.
Trim The Excess Edges of the Carpet
When the carpet is placed on the floor using a stretcher or kicker, you can cut the excessive parts of it by using any sharp knife. After this, you will be done with your carpet stretching process. This will again enhance the aesthetic appeal and comfort of your room.
Reasons for Carpet Lumps
There are different reasons for the forming of ripples, wrinkles, and lumps, which you need to know to prevent further issues.
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Heavy Foot Traffic
Sometimes, heavy and continuous foot traffic on the carpet could be a reason for wrinkles. It is indeed made to walk on, but a constant heavy footfall will make the carpet look old and wrinkled.
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Improper Installation
Another reason could be the improper installation of carpet. Sometimes, the carpet experts make minor installation mistakes, like not tightening it correctly, which could lead to instant ripples. So, be sure that installers use all the necessary tools for adequately fitting the carpet; otherwise, it will instantly start forming lumps.
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Humidity And Water Contact
After carpet installation, kids and sometimes adults become careless and spill water on it. The intact humidity and moisture in the carpeting could slowly start forming wrinkles and lumps, which can also lead to safety hazards. To ensure protection for everyone, be careful about spills and splashes and consider instant cleanups.
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Dragging Heavy Furniture
The most common reason for crumpling is the dragging of heavy furniture on the carpet. Doing so ultimately leaves marks and lumps. So, it’s important to lift all the furniture pieces instead of dragging, whenever any relocation is required.
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Improper Padding
There should be a correct size of padding used to support the foam underlay carpet. Improper padding use could be a reason for wrinkles formation on carpets.
Benefits of Carpet Stretching
- The stretching reduces safety hazards. Because of the wrinkles and lumps present on it, there is a possibility that a person could fall and have injuries. Stretching will remove all the wrinkles, hence ensuring maximum safety.
- Stretching carpets is a highly cost-effective process, and it will save the investment value that you spent while buying it.
- Carpet installation and fixing stretches increase the lifespan of carpets and enable all their benefits as well. You can use your carpet for a longer time by removing wrinkles.
- The presence of wrinkles and lumps can cause even the most precious carpeting to look displeasing. So it’s important to address this problem as early as possible.
Conclusion
Are your children falling on the carpet due to the presence of wrinkles and lumps on it? You can fix this issue with simple steps of stretching. You can use various tools like knee kicker and power stretcher to remove carpeting lumps. This stretching will benefit you by adding value to your home, protecting investment costs, and reducing safety hazards. Here in this guide, you would have learned about how fixing carpet stretching works. In addition, we’ve mentioned various precautions as well, such as to avoid heavy and continuous footfall on the carpet and be careful about the spills on it because moisture could be one of the reasons for wrinkling. Hoping for this take to be maximally helpful for you.
