How To Stretch Buckled Carpet, Easy
If you have a room or two in your home with buckles, or ripples, in the carpet, then you will want to get the carpet stretched. This is an easy fix and can be done yourself using a carpet stretcher. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to stretch your carpet easy.
Why Does Your Carpet Buckle?
There are several reasons that your carpeting can warp, or buckle, and cause problems for you. The synthetic materials that make up your wall to wall carpeting can be affected by humidity and moisture. Additionally, the carpet may not have been installed properly to begin with. Even dragging heavy furniture or items across the carpet can lead to bulges.
Whatever the reason, you can buy, or rent, a power stretcher to re-stretch the carpet yourself in an afternoon.
What Tools Do You Need?
A carpet stretcher is a tool that extends to reach from one end of your room to the other. It was teeth on the end that grab the carpet to move it forward to stretch it back out. They can be pricey to buy, especially if you have a large room and need a lot of extension poles. Home Depot in my area rents them out for less than $40 per day.
You’ll also need a utility knife and a scrap piece of wood, like a 1X4.
How To Stretch Your Carpet
Step 1
First, clear the room. Ideally you’ll want to clear the entire room. If the buckle is in one spot then you can clear that half of the room. But, if you have several areas to stretch, or you have a pattern in your carpet, then you will need to clear and stretch the entire room.
Step 2
Next, remove the carpet from the tack strips along the wall in the direction you are going to stretch it. If you cleared half of the room of furniture, then also remove the carpet from the tack strips along the adjacent wall. If you cleared the entire room, then remove the carpet from the tack strips along both adjacent walls, like a “U” shape. Leave the carpet on the wall behind you intact.
Step 3
Set up the power stretcher. Place the scrap piece of wood on the wall behind you. This prevents the stretcher from damaging your wall or baseboard.
The dial on the stretcher allows you to adjust the teeth for the pile height of your carpet. Higher numbers on the dial are for thicker carpet, like a shag. And lower numbers are for thinner carpet, like berber.
Now set up the stretcher from one end of the room to the other. Rest the end of the stretcher along the wall for leverage. Place the front of the stretcher near the wall on the opposite end of the room, but not all of the way to wall. Leave a gap of a few inches.
Place the stretcher at a slight angle across the room. Keep it at this slight angle as you go along.
Step 4
Stretch the carpet. While pushing down on the front of the stretcher, apply some pressure as you push the lever handle of the stretcher down and move the carpet forward. Once you’ve moved the stretcher forward as much as it will go (usually an inch or two), then lift up on the lever handle and reposition the stretcher to the side just a bit. Repeat the process. Continue along to the side until you’ve stretched the entire buckle out.
Step 5
Using the utility knife, cut off the excess carpet. Don’t cut it flush with the wall. Leave an inch or so as you’ll need to tuck it back in to the tack strips under the baseboard.
Step 6
Tuck the carpet on to the tack strips and then push it under the baseboard. Give the carpet a slight tug back to ensure the tack strips grabbed it to hold it in place.
Step 7
Finally, vacuum the room and put all your furniture back.
If the crease, or buckle, had been in the carpet for a long time, you may still see the crease after you’ve stretched it out. That will usually fade over time.
