Carpet Stretching Why You Should Consider It

Many people have carpet in their homes, and they do their best to care for it. While good cleaning practices do lengthen the life of a wall-to-wall carpet, one thing homeowners often neglect is carpet stretching. Below, we’ll explore why such a measure is important for the best fit and longest lifespan of a carpet, especially when homeowners intend to remain in their homes for decades at a time. The three most common reasons a carpet stretch every five years as the optimal solution are as follows.

The What and the Why of Carpet Stretching

Over time, normal wear and tear, walking around, moving furniture, playing with small children or dogs on the carpet will cause ripples to form in the body of the carpet. That’s because carpets are essential textiles, the materials of which relax over time. As well, loose or poorly installed carpets will shift over time with these activities, causing similar issues.

Carpet installers will often use what is called a knee-kicker to install carpet, because it is far quicker at the outset, allowing them to begin and complete more jobs in a given time-span. However, this doesn’t actually stretch the carpet tight before it’s secured at the margins of the room. This usually results in issues appearing sooner. One method that is far more effective, if time-consuming is to use a power stretcher. This ensures that the carpet is flush with the carpet pad, and is as taught as possible before being secured.

Aging Well

Many times, if a carpet is more than five years old, these issues will crop up, even if it was securely installed with a power stretcher to begin with. That’s just a part of the process of carpet life spans. However, if the carpet is a high-quality textile, stretching it again will often solve many of the issues older carpets develop. That’s because it pulls the underlying warp and weft threads taut once more, and also redistributes patterns of wear as they have developed over time. Cleaning the carpet also becomes much easier and causes less wear on the fabric. When a carpet is loose, excellent vacuums and steam cleaners will pull on the loosed fabric, resulting in collateral wear and tear.

Smarter Pounds and Pennies

When a carpet is restretched and slack taken in, the carpet is once more flush with the padding, and cleaning is both easier and more effective. This can also alleviate concerns about damaged portions. If those areas are close to the margins, they can be patched or removed when the stretching takes place. While many homeowners may think that replacing the entire carpet is more cost effective, in reality, patching and stretching option will both save them money and lengthen the effective lifespan of their floor covering simultaneously.

Carpet stretching is a relatively simple process that can often be completed by a professional team in a very short period of time. Moreover, homeowners usually don’t need to remove the bulk of the furniture from the room in question. This vastly simplifies the process and allows jobs to be completed in short order. It will depend on the nature of the stretching needed as well as how much and how heavy the furniture in the room is. Professionals can answer any questions you may have and give you an expert opinion on the nature of the repair required along with an accurate estimate of costs.

7-11-2017