PSA: that 'carpet stretch' stat from the CRI handbook actually surprised me

I was flipping through the Carpet and Rug Institute's installation guide last night and saw that a typical carpet can have up to 1% stretch allowed per foot. For a 12-foot room, that's over an inch of give - had no idea it was that much leeway. Anyone else ever measure their pulls and find they're way under that limit?

2 comments

2 Comments

tara_mitchell1mo ago

Oh man, that stat got me too when I first saw it! I had always been super careful about my pulls, like measuring every few feet and worrying I was messing up. Then I tried actually pushing the carpet a bit more on a bedroom install last summer and it turned out way smoother. I ended up with a nice tight finish without fighting the material so much. Still not gonna go right to 1% every time, but knowing there's that buffer helped me relax and work faster.

elizabeth4381mo ago

Wait, you're saying the 1% stretch stat is actually legit? @tara_mitchell I never would've guessed that was a real number, always thought it was just some old-timer rule of thumb.