Stop stretching carpet against the tack strip, you're causing ripples

I see installers do this all the time at supply houses. They stretch the carpet tight and hook it straight onto the tack strip. That puts too much tension on one side and the carpet ripples after a week. You gotta leave a gap of about 1/4 inch between the tack strip and the wall, then use a knee kicker to stretch it evenly from the middle out. Learned this the hard way after a redo in a living room in Phoenix last summer. Has anyone else fixed their ripple problems this way?

2 comments

2 Comments

noahhall16d ago

Exactly right. I fixed a hallway last fall by leaving that gap and working from the center out with the knee kicker. No ripples after three months now. People don't realize the tack strip needs room to breathe.

hannah24015d ago

I left the gap, but my hallway still looks like a funhouse mirror. My bad.