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That time I stretched a wool berber in a cold room and it bit me later | Carpet Installers - Talk Freely

kim727•5mo ago

That time I stretched a wool berber in a cold room and it bit me later

Had a job in a big old house in Tacoma last month, the kind with high ceilings and drafty windows. The homeowner wanted this thick wool berber installed in the main living area, and the heat was off to save money. It was about 50 degrees in there. I went ahead and stretched it like normal, got a good tight fit, no wrinkles at all. Two days later I get a call that the carpet is rippling like crazy along the main traffic lane. Went back and sure enough, it had relaxed and buckled once the heat kicked on and the room warmed up to 70. Lesson learned the hard way: wool fibers contract in the cold and expand with heat, so you have to stretch it tighter than you think in a cold space. I ended up having to re-stretch the whole section. Anyone else run into this with natural fibers in changing temps?

3 comments

3 Comments

rileyellis5mo ago

Does that mean the carpet basically got revenge on him for not thinking about the weather first? Sounds like it decided to throw a little tantrum just to teach him a lesson about planning ahead. At least he learned his lesson before the whole thing turned into a giant wavy mess.

tarar275mo ago

My buddy did a wool runner in a sunroom that was basically a screened porch. He stretched it in the fall when it was cool, and it looked perfect. Come summer, that room gets full sun and turns into an oven. The whole thing just went limp and developed a huge wave right down the middle. He said it was like the carpet just gave up and sighed. Makes you wonder how many jobs have hidden problems waiting for the season to change, right?

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laura_black315mo ago

Wool can actually handle heat pretty well, it's the wild swings in humidity that get it. A screened porch probably went from dry fall air to a muggy summer, and that moisture change is what made it buckle. Proper padding with a good moisture barrier might have saved it. Makes you question if the installer really planned for that room's specific conditions, doesn't it?