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Just realized my old knee kicker was off by a quarter inch on a job in Everett and it explained the weird tension line.
I switched to a power stretcher for the next room and the seam disappeared, so now I'm wondering if anyone else has a good way to check their kicker's accuracy before starting.
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danielm777mo ago
Yeah that's the kind of small error that throws everything off... always seems to happen with the older tools. A quick check against a known straight edge before locking it in saves so much headache later.
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colegarcia6mo ago
My first boss called that quarter inch the "tape measure tax" on every job. I mean, it's basically a hidden fee for not checking your tools. That guy saved more money with a straight edge than any discount from the supplier.
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the_riley7mo ago
Honestly, a quarter inch seems pretty minor in the grand scheme. Most floors have way bigger problems than a tiny tension line. I'd just keep an eye on it and not overthink the tool.
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robin8967mo ago
My old Roberts kicker from the 90s had that same drift after a few years. I started laying a chalk line on the subfloor and checking the teeth against it before every big room. It feels like extra work but it beats tearing out a seam that puckered up two days later. That quarter inch error multiplies fast once you get a few rows down the wall.
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