Carpet needs to be re-stretched.

Question

I have lived in a mobile home that is almost 5 years old. In the past 6 months I have noticed that in several places throughout the house the carpet has a big wrinkle in it. I have called a couple of carpet cleaning/repair companies, and they want a lot of money to come out and stretch it. Is there another method that can be used to do this? My husband and I are seniors and can't do anything really physically taxing. Any suggestions? I don't understand either why this is happening. It is just the 2 of us in the house.

Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com · Answer

The reason for the stretching of the carpet, although your not really running around and all is the padding and quality of the carpet installed. 
When they stretch carpet when new they do this two ways. One using a carpet stretcher which is a long pole with a ratchet handle on one end that pulls the carpet in two directions at once. Looks like a oversized car jack we used to use that connected to the bumper of the car. The other method is a knee kick device where they bang their knee against it pulling the carpet tight. The first method is really the best as it pulls the carpet really tight. The latter not so much. 
The padding can cause this issue because every time you walk on the carpet it gets pushed down into the padding. This constant push down and release stretches the carpet ever so slightly and over time all these tiny stretches add up and the next thing you have is a bump in the carpet. The better or thicker the padding the worse and sooner this can occur. No padding, no real stretching. 
Had they used the pole method with the stretcher this would have caused the carpet to look better longer. The knee method five or six years is a common time when the carpet needs to be made tighter.

As far as cost or any other methods, your out of luck on this, unless you want to rent the stretching bar tool and do this yourself. But you will need a carpet knife and the tools necessary to tuck the extra carpet back under the tackless that currently holds the carpet in place now.

The reason why it is expensive is the risk. As carpet ages the threads become weak and can tear easily. Not to mention if the carpet did tear its most likely not available any more so the contractor could end up on he end of the list. Should the carpet people pull to hard, they can end up tearing the carpet seams apart. So they simply figure if they get enough money they can deal with the client if that happens.

I hate so say your going to have a hard time. Check with local carpet companies or the store that sold you the carpet in the first place. They may have someone to suggest.

Gay Storm · Answer

Thanks for your suggestions. We did not buy the carpet from the store - it came with the mobile home when we bought it. Guess we'll have to live with it for awhile.

Terry's Flooring · Answer

When they build a mobile home they build the walls on top of the carpet, and the reason it's wrinkled is because they didn't stretch it properly when they installed it ...The reason why Installers are charging you so much is because they will have to cut all the carpet away from the walls and put tack strip down to hold the stretch...It has nothing to do with your pad or carpet...

Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com · Answer

I have never seen them place carpet down before they built the walls. I guess they build them a bit different down south then up north. :) But I guess it has a lot to do with the quality of the home and how they are produced. As far as the padding causing the wrinkles, I have seen the same carpet on different padding and those with the thicker padding always have been more of an issue then those that have had thinner or more stiff padding underneath.

Gay Storm · Answer

I've heard that they do it both ways, and i don't know which way they did mine. Thanks for your input.

Gay Storm · Answer

We bought a top of the line Fleetwood, with a lot of upgrades, but of course they can cut corners where you can't see them.

Terry's Flooring · Answer

Your only alternative is to have it stretched using tack strips along the walls and having it restretched..Sorry ,but that's why they are wanting to charge you so much ..

Carpet needs to be re-stretched.

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Carpet needs to be re-stretched.

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