Kicked my power stretcher to the curb for a knee kicker on a tight condo job

I had this 800 square foot run in a 12th floor condo last Tuesday, and I kept going back and forth between using my power stretcher or just the knee kicker. The layout had these super narrow hallways and a million closets, so I went with the knee kicker to save time on setup. Honestly, I was worried about wrinkles but by the third room I had the tension dialed in perfect with no issues at all. The power stretcher would have taken twice as long just moving it around those tight corners. Any of you guys stick with a knee kicker over a power stretcher for small residential spaces?

2 comments

2 Comments

mark_cooper6d ago

I had a very similar situation last year in an old building with doorways that weren't even 30 inches wide. The power stretcher simply wasn't going to fit through some of those openings without me lifting it sideways, and by the third room I would have been ready to throw it out the window. So I stuck with my knee kicker and just worked a little slower on the initial stretching, really leaning into the kick near the walls. I found that if I made sure to stretch each seam before I locked it down, the wrinkles weren't an issue. It actually felt good to go back to the basics for a change.

kais676d ago

Going back to the basics" is exactly right, I used to think knee kickers were outdated but this totally changed my mind.