Carpets: Why it’s always important to stretch.

When carpeting is installed, it is anchored to the sub-floor using tacking strips. Through regular wear and tear in areas of your home that are high use the risk is high for the carpeting to pull away from these tacking strips, causing wrinkles, tripping hazards and lifting.

In some cases, high traffic areas of your home may have carpet that has separated at the seams as the fibers and materials relax. Even in areas of your home where there is not a lot of heavy walking, the carpeting may simply become less taught or the tacking strips could become weak.

Some carpet will show obvious signs of needing to be stretched, but there are some signs that only a trained professional will be able to diagnose. Obvious signs include a wrinkled, lumpy or generally rippled appearance. All carpet should lie flat and smoothly across the floor. Also, if there is any carpeting that is pulling up at the edges of a room, without a tucked in appearance around the baseboards, your carpet needs to be stretched.

If you are noticing any of the obvious signs, your best next step is to contact a professional carpet stretching company for assistance. Carpeting that is loose may require the installation of new tacking strips, and in some cases the use of a knee kicker or power kicker to stretch and pull the carpet into place. The process of carpet stretching may result in the necessary next step of trimming away the excess carpet and each of these steps are best left to a professional.

If you think your carpet needs to be stretched contact the professionals at Gator Clean.