Burned or Stained Carpeting?

No matter how well carpeting is cared for, burns and stains still occur. A spilled drink or ashes dropped upon carpet fibers can cause serious damage. People often try removing stains and trimming away burned carpet fibers, but if not repaired correctly, the damage can appear even worse. Carpeting that is stained or burned often looks irreparable, but stained and burned carpeting can be easily repaired. It’s not necessary to call out a professional carpet repair person to do the job. Burned or stained carpeting can be repaired without the help of a professional, and you can repair it yourself without much effort or expense.

Carpet Stains

Colored drink mixes are nothing more than consumable dye combined with sugar, and anyone with kids knows that sooner or later that sweet tasting brightly colored liquid will end up on the carpeting. Drip-proof cups that aren’t suppose to leak ends up leaking, and spills happen. It’s a fact of life. Anyone with kids will eventually suffer a disaster of the staining variety.

The first order of business when spills ends up on carpeting involves removing as much of the spill as possible as soon as possible. People sometimes make the mistake of not soaking up the entire spill, and instead they end up grinding it into the carpeting and causing more damage. If a spill ends up on carpeting, use clean paper towels to remove any solids and soak up as much of the spill as possible. Even if it takes an entire roll of paper towels, remove all of the liquid. Put direct pressure on the wet area, and use clean paper towels repeatedly until the carpet is dry. The price of a roll of paper towels is well worth avoiding a permanent stain on the carpet.

After removing solid matter and absorbing all of the liquid on the carpeting, you might be left with a stain. Not all well known highly advertised carpet stain removers work as well as portrayed. I won’t name a particular brand of carpet stain remover, but I suggest looking for an aerosol variety in a blue can with an orange plastic cap. This brand is endorsed by Good Housekeeping, and it’s no wonder why. This carpet stain remover works like a miracle. If this product won’t remove a carpet stain, the carpet stain is unremovable. Follow label directions carefully, and if the stain on the carpet hasn’t been set in by improper attempts at cleaning, the stain should come out.

If a stain will not come out after repeated attempts at cleaning, it will be necessary to follow instructions for repairing a burn.

Carpet Burns

If carpeting has become burned in an obvious location, don’t call a professional carpeting repair person to repair the burn. If you saved a scrap of carpeting when the carpeting was new, the burn can be easily repaired. If you didn’t save a scrap of carpeting, and if the burn is not in an inconspicuous area, you might want to consider removing a scrap of carpeting from under a permanent piece of furniture or from the floor of a closet. Carpeting removed from an area that won’t be noticed is a much better solution than deciding to live with carpeting permanently damaged by a burn.

Professional carpet repair people use the following method of repair for fixing a burned carpet, and if you would decide to hire their services to repair your burned carpeting, you’d surely be kicking yourself after paying the bill. You would see that you could have completed the repair yourself, and you would have saved a lot of money in the process. People are often afraid to attempt repairing damaged carpeting, but it doesn’t take a carpeting professional to do the job.

Begin by locating a scrap piece of carpeting to complete the repair. You will also need a sharp utility knife, a fine-tip permanent marker, a hot glue gun, and glue sticks.

The next step is to cut the burn from the carpet using a sharp utility knife. Cut away only the burned portion of carpeting. The new piece of carpeting will fit like a puzzle piece, and it’s not necessary to cut beyond the area of the burn.

You will notice the carpeting has a grain, and the grain must be placed correctly in order to make the carpet repair invisible. Examine the scrap piece of carpet, and decide the direction the piece should lay before continuing. After determining the direction of the grain, turn the scrap piece of carpeting over, place the burned piece accordingly, and trace around it using a fine-tip permanent marker.

If cut out correctly, the new repair will perfectly fill the hole where the burn used to be. After determining the new piece of carpeting fits properly, place a moderate amount of hot glue on the back of the new piece, and carefully position it within the hole. After the glue dries, fluff the carpeting with your hand so the repair blends in. The repair should be virtually invisible, and your once damaged carpeting should look as good as new.