Why Does Carpet Ripple?

If we lived in a perfect world, perhaps things like flat tires, mosquitoes, and rippled carpet  wouldn’t exist.

Carpet is no fan of moisture!
Carpet is no fan of moisture!

So although we can’t help you with flat tires and mosquitoes, the good news is at Calgary Carpet Restretch we can help you with carpet repair.  (Umm actually,  I do know a good tire shop, and spray repellent does keep the bugs away…)  But why oh why does carpet ripple?

You might think automatically the ripples were simply the result of a bad carpet installation.  This very well might be the case. As the fact is we do a lot of carpet repair in many newer houses and condos that were built during the height of the Calgary boom in 2008.  Likely you don’t need to be reminded that Calgary attracted many less than skilled tradesman in an attempt to complete the massive building going on. Sadly though we have seen even properly installed, power stretched carpets develop ripples.  So what are some of the other reasons carpet ripples?

Here is a list:

1. Improper carpet maintenance-  The beater bar on your vacuum is your friend. The beater bar helps spread the wear around so the heavy tracked areas get relief. As well regular carpet steam cleaning by a professional cleaner, according to manufacturers specs, is essential.

2. Moisture- Carpet is made up of two layers that react differently when exposed to moisture. If carpet is continually exposed to excessive moisture you may have problems.

3.Defective carpet or underlay- Products are not always made perfect.  The truth is the formula in the carpet backing may vary from one roll to another or even from the beginning of a large roll to the end of a roll.  (The color as well will vary slightly from the beginning of a roll to the end.)

4.Improper installation or improper acclimatization- As was mentioned earlier a bad install could be the cause. But even a carpet installed in a cold house in the winter will not likely be stretched as well as a carpet on a hot summer day.  Manufacturers do recommend acclimatizing the carpet in the house, but every half intelligent carpet installer turns the heat up in the house before he stretches it. (it’s just easier to work with)

5.Uneven surface beneath the carpet-  Bad joints in the sub-floor that are uneven and not repaired will likely telegraph through the carpet in time.  As well carpet underlay may have less density from one side of a roll to the other.  So when a less dense and a more dense underlay are put side by side the result could be rippling down the road.  When a carpet repair is done in these instances it is good to repair the underlying root of the problem.  If you don’t fix the underlying problem the carpet repair will likely last only for a while and will need to be repaired again.

This is only a partial list to the question of why carpet ripples as it is not an exact science. Hopefully this will help those wondering understand a bit more. No matter what the cause, at Calgary Carpet Restretch we can repair you carpet properly.

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