The Ultimate Rug Repair Guide for 2021

Introduction

For many of us, rugs are endearing possessions, especially if you value beauty, intricacy, and craftsmanship. This is why some of us do not hesitate to invest a considerable sum when buying an oriental or handmade silk rug.

Therefore, it is only right to feel overly concerned about the pristine condition of valuable rugs. You may fear that with time and wear and tear, the rugs will lose their original glory, and you will be unable to do anything about it.

The fact is, there is a lot you can do to preserve the beauty and fine condition of your rugs, but it takes some effort. Most rug owners can learn to handle trivial cleaning details like stain prevention, spot cleaning, and others, but the ultimate rug repair is best left to the professionals.

Oriental rugs and the other delicate varieties require careful handling, and only the experts can do that. The wisest option is to opt for a professional rug for maximized optimum conditions. In this rug repair guide, we will discuss all the rug repair process.

How do Rugs Work

From comfort to beauty to aesthetics, rugs do it all for you. Whether you place them by your bedside for extra cushioning or in your living rooms to be the focal point, they’re the best additions for every space. But looking after these precious beauties takes some effort.

To begin with, you need to stay vigilant for signs that could tell you a repair in need of the hour if you wish to extend the life of your rug. Is the rug looking unraveled? Do you spot a snag here and there on the rug? Do you find the colors looking duller? If you have noticed any of these and perhaps certain other things, you know your rug tells you it needs some attention.

If the phrase “a stitch in time saves nine” ever rang true, it is in this case. If you allow extensive damage to occur on your rug, your only options will remain to change the pattern or perhaps let go of a part of it. However, if you conduct the repairs soon enough, you can enjoy its original condition for long years to come.

That is the simple rule of rugs-you see; they are just like our bodily health. If we continue feeding our bodies well and taking good care of them, the chances are that we will live a longer and healthier life.

Similarly, if you give your rugs the tender loving care, attention, and repair they need in time, they serve you well for generations often.

Common Rug Problems

A number of potential rug problems could mar their beauty. However, the good news is that each problem has its solution. Let’s take a look at some of the common rug problems below:

Shedding

New rugs tend to have this problem. You will note little rug fur balls in your vacuum cleaner or loose rug fibers scattered here and then. This is a common occurrence for new rugs. It’s quite common for new rugs to shed. Within a month or two, the fluffy balls of fibers should stop appearing.

Crushing and Matting

In this problem, the fibers of your rug begin to untwist, or the pile thickness begins to reduce. This problem occurs if there is negligence in proper cleaning, vacuuming, or just a heavy amount of traffic the rug has to bear.
To prevent this problem, you could look for rugs where the manufacturers guarantee their capacity to bear heavy traffic without wearing off. Your other best option is to hire a professional to properly clean your rugs and rid them of matting and crushing.

Indentations and Depressions

Indentations and depressions can be permanent damage. They occur when your rugs have to bear the weight of heavy furniture. If your rug has already sustained this problem, there is hardly anything anyone can do to reverse the permanent damage. But you can prevent this problem from occurring by being a little proactive beforehand.

In case you cannot avoid placing heavy furniture on the top of your rugs, you must try to use glides underneath the legs of the furniture. This will help minimize any indentations or depressions. Also, try to move your furniture often. This is so that the heavy pieces do not stay on a portion of the rugs for too long.

Wear

When we say that the rug has suffered we wear, we generally mean that it has lost pile weight and fiber. This again occurs if there is negligence in the cleaning routine. You can maximize the pristine condition of your rugs by giving them regular maintenance and care.

To this end, vacuuming twice a week and scheduling professional cleaning services regularly is imperative. Moreover, some manufacturers offer up to five or ten years of warranty for wear. You must check with your manufacturer to see if you are eligible to avail of the warranty.

Bleaching and Discoloration

Discoloration and bleaching is an all-too-common occurrence. If you place your rugs under direct sunlight, subject them to certain rug cleaning foams and cleaning agents, discoloration is highly possible. Bleaching agents, too, tend to rob your rugs of their vivid colors.

For this problem, you need to be on your guard when using cleaning solutions. Read the fine print and note if there are any rug-damaging elements in them. It is also wise to always conduct a test patch first on your rug’s hidden area, especially if you’re using a product for the first time.

There is no doubt about the knowledge and expertise of the expertise in using appropriate products for your rugs. You can also seek sound advice from professionals if you need a re-dyeing process for your already discolored rugs.

Buckling

Have you noticed ungainly ripples or bulges in your rugs? Well, we call this problem buckling, and it appears as if some force pushed your rug at intervals from the floor beneath. This problem occurs when the rugs have faced too much moisture.

A professional rug repair service may cause a slight buckling or ripple after the cleaning process. However, it is only temporary, and the ripples should disappear once your rug is completely dry and the fibers have shrunk back down.

If your environment continues to be humid or moist, though, then the buckling may be more severe, and it best to give it to an expert repairer for re-stretching. Now this by no means is to discourage you from a regular practice of proper maintenance and care. It is still necessary to give those to the rugs regularly to preserve their actual beauty and life.

The only thing is to ensure you get the most expert help for rug repairs and that no novice may have unintentionally ruined the rugs for good.

Tears and Split Seams

High traffic areas of the rugs will eventually develop seams that will continue to split as usage continues. The seams then begin to separate and start fraying. As soon as you spot any frays, it is best to glue the edges together. However, this is merely a temporary solution, and the seams will tear open soon enough as the foot traffic persists on the rugs.

The better solution again is to schedule a professional rug repair when you spot frays on the rugs. Remove the rugs from the traffic till some experts have repaired the damage and cured the tears and split seams.

Different Types of Rug Repair

Since rugs can suffer more than one kind of damage, it is only fair that there exists more than one repair for the beauties. Here are the types of rug repair you must know:

Rebuilding and Binding Fringes

If you note fringes on your beloved handwoven rugs, you must know they’re not there for decoration purposes. These fringes make up the entire structure of your rugs, whether they are vertical threads or warps and horizontal threads or wefts.

When the rug weavers complete a rug, they knot and tie these fringes together with a final trim to make everything look neat. What you see as fringes, therefore, goes much beyond in terms of intricacy. When the fringes run from one side to the other, you can imagine how even slight damage or a tassel coming undone can unravel your entire rug. You will lose almost all of the appearance and value of the original thing.

Fringe repair is the only means of rescuing your handwoven rug. However, if yours is a machine-woven rug, then chances are high that the fringe is only there for decorative purposes. The manufacturer may have added it after the rug was complete. In this instance, you may only need to remove the attached fringes and replace them with new ones for repair.

In binding and rebuilding fringes, you have the following options:

Hand stitching- hand stitching the fringes means your rug is new all again, and no unraveling will happen again. In most cases, repairers weave pre-woven pieces of fringe to your rug’s affected end while letting the existing fringes stay in place.
Re-inserting- In this case, your rug’s warps have to be woven back into the original structure by hand. Although this repair option is costlier, it is best to restore the entire rug.
Hand overcasting- this requires trusting skilled craftspeople to eliminate the unraveling of your rug. They take your handwoven rug and weave a lock stitch into the weft threads. This option is best when your fringes have suffered from damage down to the knots.
Machine binding- if you own a rug of natural fibers, you can opt for machine binding to bind, bevel, and trim its edges. This repair type is applicable for a variety of widths and best for cotton fabrics.
Machine-stitching- this repair type also incorporates adding new fringes with the help of a special machine. This less costly option gives your rugs a handwoven and synthetic feel.

Color Restoration

If your rug’s color has bled or dulled and faded, then you need major repairs to restore the structural integrity. For this problem, you can opt for two repairs:

Rug Painting- airbrushing or brush painting directly on the rug is an option, but then again, it is only viable if you leave it to experts. Not only is this repair type time consuming, tedious and tricky, but it can also ruin your rug forever if untrained painters use harmful chemicals and paints. Best to let the professionals do it with techniques and proper products.
Re-dyeing- A certified and trained dye master uses natural dyes or synthetic dyes to give your rug an antique or original appearance as suits the needs.

Moth Damage Repair

If larvae eat the fabric of your rugs away, you know you have moth damage on hand. This is especially more common in the wool variety, so your oriental rugs are always in danger. The repair options for this problem include:

Moth Damage Repair- Experts will make new wefts and warps to tie new knots using new wool for filling in the holes. This repair is only possible for experts to conduct because it requires highly technical and specialized skills to replicate the rugs’ exact original structure. Experts also must use original textures, colors, and matching threads to conceal the part that will undergo repairs, disguising it as part of the original.
Mothproofing- in this, the expert will mothproof your oriental rugs by first exposing them to high heat or sunlight. Moths love cool and dark places, so the first aim is to kill the perfect cool home the moths have made inside the natural cool fibers. Then the experts use anti-bacterial and safe moth-repellant solutions to kill any remaining larvae and moths. A further cleaning process follows to complete the restoration of the rug.

Is Rug Repairing Worth It?

The answer to this depends on multiple factors. If you want to decide whether or not it is worth it to repair your rug, you must try to weigh the following factors:

How Expensive Your Rug is

If your rug was quite expensive, It justifies a relatively high-cost maintenance or repair job. You must even consider replacing handwoven or oriental rugs is far more expensive than repairing them.

An Anchor for Your Interior Design

Had you bought the rug particularly because it tied the rest of your room’s décor really well together? If it did, then you must note that finding another rug that would be the anchor for the rest of your interior design might be challenging. It may take you too long to find similar pieces, and chances are, you may not find a piece like that ever again.

If the current rug matches your color scheme and furniture well, opting for rug repair might be the best option. Besides, buying a new rug for exactly the same reasons all over again might be unbearable for your pocket.

The Rug Serves Family History

It could be that your beloved rug is a family heirloom. Or even if it wasn’t expensive, the rug may remind you of beautiful memories. In this case, repairing the rug might totally be worth it if it preserves the sentimental value for future generations to enjoy too.

Final Thoughts

It is always best to adopt a “the sooner, the better” policy where rug repair is concerned. The longer you put off essential repairs and cleaning of your rugs, the worse the damage becomes. This especially applies to the oriental, silk, and handwoven varieties you own. For some, rugs are way beyond household accessories, such as the heirlooms that families hand down to their generations. If you have a valuable rug in your possession, then you must know that professional and time repairs are a part of your rug’s foundation.