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Power stretcher or knee kicker for a 14x18 berber job, and I went the wrong way first
Got called to redo a bedroom in a 1970s ranch house over on Maple Street last month, 14x18 with berber that the homeowner picked because her sister has it. Berber hates to stretch, everyone knows that, so I stood in the driveway for ten minutes deciding between my knee kicker and dragging the power stretcher out of the truck. I went with the kicker because the room was small and I figured I could save setup time, plus the doorway had a weird jog I didn't want to fight around. Big mistake. By the third row I could feel the backing fighting me and I was getting little ripples near the closet wall that would not lay down no matter how many passes I made. I pulled it all back up, grabbed the power stretcher, used a 6 inch tail block against the far wall, and the whole thing flattened out in maybe 20 minutes. Homeowner came in, ran her hand across it, and asked why I didn't just use the big tool from the start. I didn't have a good answer. Curious what you all do on berber under 200 square feet, do you always bring the power stretcher in or is there a trick with the kicker I'm missing?
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ellis.jennifer1h ago
Berber has that woven backing that grabs the pad and makes the kicker work twice as hard, so a lot of guys end up overkicking and stretching the backing past the face yarn. Try warming the room up first and letting the carpet sit overnight, then hit it with the power stretcher and you will hardly have to touch the kicker at all.
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