I finally tried the power stretcher on a curved staircase

Went to a job in Portland last month, a 3-story Victorian with a spiral staircase. The homeowner wanted carpet on every stair and the curve was tight. Tried using my knee kicker for the first few steps and it was a nightmare, kept puckering. Switched to a power stretcher with the stair attachment and it saved me 4 hours of work. No more wrinkles and the pile stayed consistent around the bends. Anyone else use power stretchers on curved stairs or do you stick to hand tools?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_lee1mo ago

Reading about the power stretcher saving you four hours got me thinking. It's like how we try to force an old tool to do a new job when the right tool was sitting there all along. I've seen that same pattern in other trades where people waste time wrestling with something just because they're used to doing it the hard way.

james_singh71mo ago

Is it really wasting time if you're getting the job done anyway?

the_dylan5d ago

@the_lee nailed it. We all do that thing where we keep using the wrong tool just because we're comfortable with it. Sometimes the job gets done, but it takes twice as long. Not really a waste if it works, but it's definitely not efficient.