Topic: Re: my carpet is wrinkled
Do we have a great bunch of guys here or what? If you are like most DIYers I have had the pleasure of working with over the last 14 years, you are anxious to get started. Please keep in mind that Nick and Tony both had the best advice and that is to hire a pro. Some of these tools are dangerous and complicated and you could do serious harm to your carpet and even to yourself if you aren't careful. But I am somewhat of a DIYer myself and know all too well that you might throw caution to the wind and try to fix this carpet anyway.
The methods and suggestions you get here are based on the abilities of the average DIYer. If we were discussing this between pros, the methods might be quite different and the results would be better in terms of longevity and durability, if not in appearance. I'll try to help you make it look better and last a lot longer, but these methods are not necessarily professional methods.
So, before Tony steals my thunder (and because this damn drawing program took me a couple hours to do and I don't want it to go to waste), here are my instructions. Please don't take the money and run though. Some of these guys might have better ideas or think of something I fergot, so keep reading for more information. In the end, you'll have a carpet free of bubbles and be proud to show off your talents to your new neighbors.
Here's a list of tools you might need: - The carpet tool box you described with knife, kicker and stair tool (big chrome chisel lookin' thing)
- A carpet spreader (tool that holds the carpet onto the pins as you are working)
- Power stretcher (the big tool with poles - it ain't electric, but it's power-full)
- A 4x4 (or any strong board) long enough to span the widest doorway
I hope that my diagram is pretty close to what you described. Since you didn't mention any other doorways, this is what I came up with:
You didn't say if the hearth was raised, straight sided or what, so if there are any major differences, you can just post back with more questions. Since you May not have the understanding or ability to make any seam repairs, plug doorways or add a filler strip, we'll have you just do what's necessary to stretch the carpet tigher without having to do any seam work. If you want to tackle the seaming that would be necessary to do this in a more professional manner, let us know and we'll try to talk you through that too.
To start, empty the room of all furniture and vacuum. Pull the carpet loose around the perimeter of the room starting at the far side of the kitchen door and go clockwise around to the doorway near the entry (hall door on the right in the picture). When you get to that doorway, pull the carpet loose, but do not pull it away from the door casing on the left side of the doorway. If you do, the carpet will stretch away from that casing and you will need a plug or filler to fix it. Save any trim or get new to replace when you are done.
After you loosen the carpet, be sure to check for any loose or broken tackless. Replace or repair them as needed. Vacuum the gully -- that space between the tackless and the wall.
Now you are going to set up the stretcher and take your first stretch. Adjust the pin length so that the stretcher pins just go into the backing of the carpet through the pile. Too deep and you will damage the pad and have difficulty stretching. Too shallow and you might damage the pile. See the diagram for positioning. The 4x4 goes across the doorway here, but you will use it to back up the stretcher foot on every stretch to be sure you don't break through the wall. Notice the slight angle the stretcher is on. The angles are important to make the carpet move not only forward, but to the side a little too (it prevents bubbles from forming to the sides).
The stretcher and the handle is kind of tricky to get used to. Be sure to lift the head when you are moving the stretcher or lifting up on the handle or you could damage the carpet. Press the head down firmly with one hand on the head and the other on the handle as you move the handle down. It's not necessary to lift the handle all the way up. Half way should be good -- you can take more than one bite to get the carpet tight. You will feel resistance as you push down on the handle. You want to get the carpet tight across the width of the room. Even though you didn't describe any bubbles in that direction, the carpet is likely not tight enough anywhere. Press the handle down firmly. If it's too easy to get the handle down all the way, take another bite. Hold the carpet in place by pressing the carpet spreader edge on top of the carpet right where the pins of the tackless would be.
Now you should have a section of carpet stretched across the room that is about 1 1/2' wide, beginning at the corner. You can trim and tuck that part in now. Be very careful with the knife. Use a new blade and change it when it gets dull. Trim just a little heavy so about a quarter inch of carpet rides up on the baseboard. Hold your fingers on the the carpet on top of the tackless and tuck the trimmed edge in with the stair tool.
Now you are going to use the knee kicker. This is another tool that takes practice to use right. It is not a stretching tool, it is only for positioning. You are not going to slam your knee into it, but you will be bumping the pad with your knee kind of firmly. Be careful here too because it is easy to miss the pad squarely and glance off the side. It can hurt and even cause knee injury.
Beginning at the right side of the kitchen doorway, where the carpet has been pulled loose, bump the carpet up tight to the wall and tuck it in (please note the slight angle). You can also use the carpet spreader to press the carpet onto the tackless and then go back to tuck, trimming the carpet where necessary. You should now have the end wall all finished and you might even notice a slight difference in the wrinkle already.
You are now ready to take a long stretch. Set up the stretcher as in the diagram. There is hardly any angle this time and be sure to place the 4x4 against the wall or doorway behind the foot of the stretcher. You will be able to get a lot more stretch in this direction, but for this first couple of stretches, you will want to take care not to stretch so much that you form a bubble at the other corner of the hearth (see the question mark). Make the stretch as tight as you can without causing a new bubble.
Now reposition the stretcher as in the next diagram. This stretch is to the left of the last one and is angled more. In fact, the foot is in nearly the same position as the last stretch, you only moved the head over about a foot or so.
And again you will continue across the wall working your way to the far corner. Where the first couple of stretches you had to be careful not to make a new bubble, you should now be able to increase the pressure and take a little bigger bite. You are now seeing that the bubble is nearly gone.
Before you begin to trim that wall in, you need to go back to the starting point on that wall and angle the stretcher toward the right corner to stretch the carpet between the hearth and the end wall. That is not a very long distance, so don't expect to get a lot of stretch from that area. You will get some though and then you can finish that wall by trimming and tucking.
The area from the left side of the entrance doorway to the corner gets your attention now. Just as you did along the kitchen wall, bump the carpet up along that wall. You can replace the doorway trim or get a new piece, then trim and tuck the rest of the wall.
Almost done now. Turn the stretcher around to the short distance right next to the very first stretch you made. Stretch along that wall, moving to the right, maintaining the angle until you reach the far corner again. You may have to devise an alternative method to block the tail of the stretcher when you go across the fireplace, but be sure to stretch consistently all the way.
After you finish trimming and tucking, put the tools away (please clean them for the next user) vacuum up and put your funiture back. If you followed these directions, you will no doubt have a carpet free of wrinkles and much tighter than it was when you moved in. I hope this has helped you and anyone else looking for a way to get rid of wrinkles in a simple layout like this.
If you have any questions, let us know. Thanks for coming to us for help.
Best R'gards,
Jim
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