The Reason for Carpet Restretching
When you’re having new carpet installed, it’s most often tempting to hire a carpet repair and installation professional to save yourself the trouble of doing this project yourself. A carpet installation contractor comes at an additional cost, and in many cases one of them will do a great job quickly and efficiently. Some installers are unfortunately not worth the price tag because they don’t always complete the job correctly. This happens for any number of reasons, including over-scheduling, inexperience, and mistakes made during the carpet installation process. When a carpet isn’t installed properly, there’s usually the need for a carpet re-stretching job within the four years following the installation.
A good number of carpet installing contractors are somewhat expensive to hire, although many of them haven’t been able to raise their prices fast enough to cover the rising costs of their installation supplies. This increasingly common problem leaves the average carpet installer crew needing to complete more jobs per day in order to earn the same amount of money. It also means there are chances installers may rush too quickly through an installation job without paying as much attention to quality. Rushed carpet installation jobs are often full of mistakes and need repair at some point in the near future.
Some carpet installing contractors are also unfortunately not as reputable as their advertising materials claim. Some may exaggerate their years of experience or even post false positive reviews about their business. Then the quality of their work does not live up to the claims they make on their websites or elsewhere. If you decide to hire an independent contractor who isn’t part of a carpet retail outfit, you also may run the risk of voiding the warranty and will therefore be responsible for any expenses associated with carpet repairs. If this kind of installers make major mistakes, you’ll likely end up paying higher prices in the long run to have the job redone.
After you’ve had an installer complete laying down your new carpet, you can look for a few certain things that indicate a poorly completed installation. These include frayed edges at the baseboards where the wall meets the carpet, seams that don’t line up, or ridges and bumps when a carpet needs to lay completely flat. Fixing any of these mistakes is most frequently a costly and time-consuming hassle, which is all the more of a reason for being selective about selecting an installer.
Some newly installed carpets can also hide their need to be re-stretched, at least for the first year or two. Many installers place wall-to-wall carpet by attaching it to tacked strips that are mounted on the subfloor below. After several years of heavy foot traffic and normal wear, a lot of carpets do need to be re-stretched. Correct installation the first time around will prolong the need for this kind of carpet maintenance. To determine if a carpet needs re-stretching, you’ll likely need to check several areas for looseness or any damage to the underlying base structure.
Along with re-stretching, keeping a carpet clean is an essential part of ongoing maintenance. Many quality and experienced retail carpet installers include truck mounted steam cleaning for an additional fee. In many cases, some carpet re-stretching is needed even without signs of visible damage such as cuts or fraying. Lumps or wrinkles in the surface are often indicators, along with warping that can happen after you move a heavy piece of furniture to a different spot on top of the carpet. When you need this done to your carpet, a professional installer should be able to complete the job in a timely manner.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult making this into a legal matter as most lawyers will not take the case unless somebody was personally injured because they tripped over the carpet wrinkle. Contact your local attorney to make sure. If you are the owner of a carpet installation company then ensure you have the right insurance in place.