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A customer asked me why I still use a knee kicker at my age, and his reason threw me
Had a guy watching me stretch a bedroom in a rental over on Ash Street last Tuesday, and he asked why I still use a knee kicker instead of a power stretcher for the whole job. I told him the power stretcher does the heavy stuff but the kicker is how I feel where the carpet wants to go. He said his old installer told him the same thing back in 1994 and it stuck with him. That got me thinking about how much of this trade lives in your knees and hands, not in a manual. I've been at it 19 years and I still tap the edges before I cut, just to hear it. My back hates me for it but the seams come out tighter. Any of you still kick your way through a room even when the power stretcher is sitting right there?
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valwest14h ago
Tap the edge and listen for the hollow spot before you ever pull? That little sound tells you more about how the tack strip is sitting than any tool will, so how do you know when a room is too far gone and the kicker just is not going to save that edge? Kicking is a feel thing that took me years to trust, and I still catch myself doing it on the small stuff.
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