Why ripples, wrinkles, bumps, humps and bubbles happen to carpet ?
The most common reason carpets need stretching(re-stretching) is because they have not been installed correctly to begin with. Most carpet installers use the knee kicker to stretch carpet, and likely that is what you would expect. That is because most people are not aware that the knee kicker was never designed to stretch carpet!
The famously well known knee kicker was designed only to be an assist tool to the proper carpet installation/stretching tool which is the power stretcher.
See carpet stretching page for more information about this.
Next misconception
Unlike what most people think, pushing heavy furniture across a room does not cause ripples in front of what you are pushing, it doesn’t, it actually exposes the fact that the carpet is loose already, and when a hump of carpet moves in front of the piece of furniture pushed across the room you have the proof. Pushing the same piece of furniture across a just stretched room of carpet will not produce a hump/ripple in front of it at all.
Another misconception
Can cleaning a carpet too often cause carpets to become loose? Not likely, if you notice ripples in your carpet after cleaning, the cleaning has revealed your carpet was already loose. Because the fibres will swell where they enter the carpet backing, causing the backing to swell and you will see ripples. When this does happen the carpet will usually settle back to the same loose carpet after drying and 2 -3 days have passed. Your carpet is still loose and should be stretched to extend it’s life as the carpet manufacturer had intended.
The length of time the carpet has been installed will also allow carpet stretch to relax and hot weather is big in revealing loose carpet! Carpet stretching is busiest in the summer, like most things in hotter weather, as warmer than normal indoor temperatures will cause the carpet to expand-especially when the sunlight falls directly on the carpet through the windows. If you have humps, lumps, ripples, wrinkles or bubbles in your carpet give us a call at 604-581-3480 and get that new looking carpet returned to you!
Chris
