The debate about pre-stretching carpet before glue-down jobs

I had a talk with a guy named Mike at a supply shop last Tuesday. He said pre-stretching is a waste of time for glue-down since the adhesive holds it. But I've always done it to avoid ripples later on. Which side do you fall on here?

3 comments

3 Comments

susana661mo ago

Mike from the supply shop is wrong. I've seen plenty of glue-down jobs ripple after a year because nobody stretched the carpet first. Pre-stretching takes like 15 minutes and saves you from coming back to fix bubbles.

sageross14d ago

Buddy of mine put down glue-down carpet in his basement rec room. Skipped the prestretch, figured it'd be fine. Six months later, there were these little waves popping up right where the kids walked the most. He had to cut out a whole section and redo it, and it never laid down quite flat again.

samwalker1mo ago

Start by saying I've never actually bothered to prestretch a glue-down and I've never had one come back on me yet lol. Maybe I'm just lucky or maybe the carpet guys in my area over think it.