I have wall-to-wall carpeting in my home that is over 20 years old, but it’s starting to pucker and wrinkle in places. Am I going to have to replace it because of its age? -Lyla Mae

Hi Lyla Mae,

Carpet can, indeed, start puckering as it gets old! The main reason can be attributed to movement from furniture over the course of the years. If the carpet was attached with tack strips, rather than adhesive, the problem can be easily remedied by restretching the carpet.

While a pro would be better suited to handle this job, restretching carpet can be tackled as a DIY project, with carpet stretchers and knee kickers available to rent at tool rental stores.

Before restretching your carpet, start by removing all the furniture in the room. Next, pull the carpet out from under the baseboard on two adjoining sides of the room, and stretch the carpet to remove the puckers, using carpet stretching tools.

Finally, rehook the carpet on the tack strips attached to the subfloor, trim off any excess carpet around the edges, and slip it back under the baseboard. Replace the furniture in the room, and you’re good to go!

Good luck with your project,

Further Information

• Tools for Installing Carpet (video)
• How to Install Commercial Carpet (video/article)
• How to Remove Carpet from Your Home (video)
• Carpet Calculator (article)

Tags: , carpet, repair