In the weeks leading up to, and immediately following Christmas, we are often inundated with requests for carpet repairs. 

The calls usually go one of two ways:

Hi, we have people coming to stay for the holidays and would like to have our carpets looked at as our cat/dog has damaged it in some areas”

OR

Hi! Weve just had people staying with us/in our holiday house and they have damaged our carpets!!”.

As we like to be upfront with all of our customers, some damage can be repaired, and some results in the carpet needing to be replaced. in order to carry out any repairs, there needs to be spare matching carpet available; In most instances this is taken from a wardrobe, and the wardrobe is replaced with a similar style of carpet.

There are a few main factors to consider when trying to repair carpet.

The biggest one, is how old the carpet is (and subsequently the overall condition of the carpet). If your carpet is more than 10 years old, and not in the greatest condition, we would most likely recommend you consider replacing it to avoid the risk of us potentially damaging the carpet further when kicking it back into place. Having said that, we have repaired 30+ year old carpet that still looked and felt as fantastic as it did the day it was installed too. 

Repair Blog

The next factor to consider is the size and location of the damage. It is much easier to repair carpet along the edge of the room, or in a doorway, than it is in the middle of the room. This is because most repairs are carried out by removing the damaged section, and joining an undamaged piece in its place. For those who have never seen a carpet layer do this, we use a heat-bond tape and a carpet iron to join the two sections of carpet together. This adds a level of complexity to damage in the middle of a room, as it becomes increasingly difficult to remove the iron when performing the new joins. There are a few alternative ways to get around this, however they can affect the integrity of the carpet, and the finished product does not look as neat.

The last factor we take into consideration when advising our customers, is whether or not the carpet has a pattern. This can be either in the form of a loop pile, or in the case of older homes, an actual pattern in the carpet. It is much easier to create a seamless repair in a patternless, twist pile carpet as we have more wiggle room with the section of carpet we use to replace the damage. When a carpet has a pattern, we need to try our best to pattern match the two sections, and this is not always possible. In some cases, depending on what is available, the finished product can look worse than the damage! However, we will always let our customers know when this may happen, and allow them to make the final decision.

Repairing your existing carpet can be a cost effective solution to prolonging the lifespan of your flooring. In many instances, carpet repairs are possible and are a great way to freshen up your home on a tight budget. However, carpet repairs should only ever be carried out by a professional to minimise the risk of further damage.