At least you didn't grab the kimchi first with your hands.

Ain't that the truth? I fought the kicker for years on bigger rooms too, till I had a hallway in Marietta that looked like a washboard. Ray sounds like a real one, that extra 4 inches is the ticket. Honestly I think it's a mix, room size matters a ton but the carpet backing plays a huge part too. Cheap stuff just doesn't hold a stretch the same way, no matter what tool you got. Good on you for listening to the old guy, saved yourself a headache down the road.

Is it really saving you time, or are you just trading one kind of manual work for another trust in a system you can't see? I've found these tools get sloppy past the first few weeks, and my own paper notes are still what I go back to when the details matter.