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Tried using a power stretcher on stairs and it backfired bad
I had this job last week for a 3 story townhouse in Denver. All the stairs were getting new carpet and I figured I would save time by using my power stretcher instead of hand kneeling. Within 10 minutes I realized the base of the stretcher kept slipping off the stair tread below. I ended up gouging the drywall on the landing because the kick plate hit it. Got so frustrated I switched back to hand stretching with my knee kicker and finished the rest of the stairs in half the time without any damage. The power stretcher is great for big open rooms but on stairs it just isnt worth the hassle. Has anyone else found a good technique for using a power stretcher on stairs?
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susanb341mo ago
Man, I feel your pain. I had a job on a set of stairs in an old Victorian house in Portland where the stair treads were sloped and uneven, and that power stretcher head just slid right off the second I put any tension on it. I ended up taking a chunk out of the baseboard molding on the second floor landing, had to stop and patch it with wood filler before the homeowner saw. I switched to my knee kicker and got the whole flight done in like half the time with zero issues, so now I just don't even bother bringing the power stretcher for stairs anymore. It's definitely one of those tools that looks like a time saver but turns into a headache fast.
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Bro same thing happened to me on some townhouse stairs in Phoenix. The power stretcher just kept popping off the tread no matter what I did, ended up putting a nice scratch in the baseboard. Went back to the knee kicker and it was way faster and way less stressful.
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cole_baker1mo ago
@hall.joel don't you think the knee kicker just doesn't grab the same way though? On those steep stairs I had the exact opposite problem where the knee kicker kept slipping and I couldn't get the carpet tight enough to avoid wrinkles. Power stretcher was the only thing that worked for me but I guess it depends on the stair material.
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