Many people feel that one of the downfalls of carpet is that if it gets stained, ripped, burned, stretched or ruined in any way you have no other option but to replace the whole thing. However, that is not necessarily true. Sure, in some drastic cases there might not be an easy fix, which leaves you with no other choice but to replace the entire carpet. But oftentimes there are much cheaper carpet care options that people forget to consider. Here are some tips on how you can fix some common carpet problems, such as rips, stains, burns, lifting and snags.
Prevention
The simplest way to prolong the life of your carpet is to stop big problems from happening in the first place. You can prevent rips, burns, stains and other issues by following these easy prevention tips.
1. Rotate Your Furniture
By regularly rotating your furniture, you can prevent certain areas of your carpet from getting crushed. Try to avoid allowing kids or pets to jump on furniture as this can put more pressure on the legs, which can damage the carpet.
2. Use Furniture Coasters
Furniture coasters not only help evenly distribute the weight of heavy furniture, but they act as shock absorbers. Some furniture coasters can even help you move the furniture across the floor more easily than you would otherwise be capable of.
3. Use Carpet Pads
Another way you can lengthen the life of your carpet is with the use of carpet pads. Carpet pads can act as shock absorbers as well as prevent the carpet from rubbing against the rough floor beneath it.
4. Keep Small Rugs in Entryway
If you commit to wiping your feet before you come indoors, you can limit the amount of dirt you track in and leave on your carpet. To accomplish this, keep a welcome mat by any entrances into your house and don’t walk on your carpet with your shoes on.
5. Vacuum Regularly
Though it isn’t the most enjoyable chore, regularly vacuuming your carpets can help keep them looking nicer for longer. Not only will they look nicer, but keeping them vacuumed can also help reduce your allergy symptoms.
6. Steam Clean
In addition to regularly vacuuming your carpet, make a point to steam clean your floor at least once a year. This can help get rid of harder to remove stains that your vacuum can’t accomplish. This is also much cheaper and easier than replacing the carpet where the stain is.
7. Apply Carpet Treatments
As preventative care, apply stain and soil resistant treatments to your floors. Even if you religiously vacuum and steam your floors, a good preventative treatment can do wonders for the health of your carpeting.
8. Clean Spills Right Away
When it comes to stains, the more quickly you act, the more efficient you will be at cleaning it. The longer a stain sits on carpet, the more challenging it will be to remove it. When caring for your carpet, don’t procrastinate to keep it in good shape.
9. Avoid Constant Direct Sun Exposure
If you always have your curtains open and allow the sun to beat down on your carpet, it can slowly alter the color of your floor and damage the fibers. To avoid this, keep your curtains or blinds closed when you are not in the room. This will also help you save on cooling and heating bills.
Following these prevention tips will help keep your carpet looking nice. Unfortunately, accidents will happen, which is why you need to learn easy repair tips too.
Rips, Stains and Burns
Rips, stains and burns in your carpet may seem like the end of the line, but even these nasty holes can be fixed.
10. Patching Burned, Ripped or Stained Carpet
When your carpet gets ripped, stained or burned, you’ll need to learn to patch it. This may sound daunting, but it’s a really easy process. First you need to make sure you have the proper tools: utility knife, scissors, marker, gloves, single-sided carpet tape, extra carpet, masking tape and a can or another cylindrical object big enough to fit around the damaged area.
- The first step to this project is finding a remnant piece of carpet. If you don’t have extra carpet from installation, you can just cut a piece of carpet from the back of a closet. Use the cylindrical object as a guide and cut around the circle to create you replacement piece.
- Next you have to figure out which way the fibers of the carpet run, so that way you can install the repair piece facing in the same direction. Use the masking tape to indicate the direction of the fibers on both the repair piece and the carpet near the damaged sight.
- Now you have to remove the damaged area from the rest of the carpet. Use the cylindrical object as an outline guide around the rip or burn. Carefully cut around the outline with your utility knife.
- Once you have the damaged area of carpet removed, it is time to put the carpet tape in. You want to cut the strips of carpet tape so that they are bigger than the diameter of the hole you just created, and stick them in there so that a portion of the tape is stuck to the surrounding backing of the carpet.
- Next it is time to put in your replacement piece. Make sure to note the direction of the fibers, so you put the piece in the right way.
- Use the scissors to trim any long pieces of carpet.
- Place a stack of books or a heavy piece of furniture on the repaired area for a few days to ensure it is fully assimilated into the rest of the carpet.
- Use scissors to trim. For burns that are not that drastic, you can just use a scissors to trim away the burnt part. Try not to cut too deep, or that part of the carpet will look odd.
Now you’re ready to patch your carpet!
Lifting
Carpeting lifting can happen in a few different ways. Your carpet can be loose and bubble in certain areas, or it can start to pull out from metal thresholds.
11. Restretching Carpet
If your carpet is bubbling or loose, you have to re-stretch it.
- Remove all of the furniture from the room and loosen the tack strips. If the carpet is older, you should make sure to use a seam sealer so the edges do not unravel.
- While your carpet is up you should check the padding underneath to make sure that it is not bunched up in places.
- Stretch out the carpet and put it back down. Make sure it is pulled tightly.
- Replace tack strips, and trim the carpet as needed.
12. Threshold Replacement
If your carpet is coming loose from the threshold, you have to remove the old threshold and replace it with a new one. Bubbles and lifting in your carpet can lead to bigger issues and unraveling. Make sure the threshold is doing its job correctly to avoid these issues.
Snags
How you go about fixing snags depends on the type of carpet you have. Below we cover the snags that happen in two common types of carpet: Berber and Loop Pile carpeting.
13. Berber Carpet
If your carpet is Berber carpet, you will have to examine the snag in order to figure out where the next loop forms and where the yarn is in the material. Follow these steps:
- You’ll have to use a screwdriver, pencil, knitting needle or some other long, thin tool to pull up the next loop. Do not pull it all the way through the backing.
- Using another thin tool, you want to pull up the next loop in order to start pulling the snag back down. Make sure to leave the snag bigger than the loops that you pull up.
- You will have to repeat this process until you get the snag down to its original spot.
14. Loop Pile Carpet
If your carpet is Loop Pile, a snag usually indicates that the loop has come undone. Follow these tips to fix it:
- You will have to examine the area and count the curls. Cut the strand in the middle, so that there are an equal number of curls on each side.
- Outline the run with masking tape.
- On the inside of the run, apply carpet tape or another adhesive.
- Then, use a screwdriver or nail to put the push fiber back in place.
Fixing snags can get a little complicated, but it can be done with the proper instructions and tools.
Save Money on Carpet
If your carpet gets stained, ripped or otherwise ruined, you do not have to replace it all. Follow these carpet care tips to keep your carpet looking good for as long as possible.
The post 14 Tips for Repairing Carpet appeared first on Living Direct.