Carpet Laying: necessary to use power stretcher?

Question

We're laying carpet in a 12 by 13 foot room, and I didn't know if we could get by stretching it with just the knee kicker, or if we had to spend another $30 to rent a power stretcher. Last time I helped do carpet we did it in a tiny 6 by 10 room and got by with just the kicker, but I didn't know if it would end up being crappy if we just used the kicker.

Answer 1

I'm a carpet fitter; use a knee kicker. I fit every day bigger rooms than this and a knee kicker is good for the job.

Answer 2

The knee kicker is fine. We did a 12' X 40' room with a knee kicker and it held perfectly.

Answer 3

A professional installer has had years of practice and they can do a room that size without any problems.  Spend the extra bucks and get some help.

Answer 4

If you have a kicker, a chisel & a utility knife you should be fine. Kick & tuck in 1 wall & then kick it up lightly on the opposite wall, trim off any excess. Now work your way down the wall giving it a nice kick as you work your way dowjn. Repeat for the remaining 2 walls.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Use the knee kicker. That's all they had before the other stuff was invented. Just takes more "elbow grease"!

Answer 6

It's up to you. The kicker will only stretch the carpet up to the tack strip with however much force you are kicking. the power stretcher is up against a wall and when you stretch it is harder and tighter. after time and moving furniture around the carpet loosens and stretches over time. with the kicker you will just run into having wrinkles in your rug sooner.