Carpet burns occur when a high heat source contacts the carpet fibre causing the fibre to be damaged. Burns can occur from a variety of sources including candle wax, cigarette ash, even from a hot steam iron or cooking pot. The smaller the burned area, the easier it is to repair. However, even if the area is larger, it’s still possible to repair and restore your carpet provided you have access to matching carpet pieces.

In situations where you do not have extra carpet remnants available, it is still possible to do a corrective insert. The damaged carpet is carefully cut out with a sharp linoleum knife and replaced with a similar size piece of undamaged carpet from an inconspicous area. For example, if you have a wall unit sitting on the same carpet, simply remove a matching piece of carpet from such a location and exchange it with the damaged piece. Provided you don’t plan to re-arrange your room anytime soon, voila!, problem solved.

We recommend that the piece you select as your patch should be cut slightly larger as you can then trim it to an exact fit.  In cutting out your patch piece, be careful to observe that the pattern matches.  Also, be careful to place the patch so that the carpet pile is all in the same direction as the surrounding carpet.

For small burns like cigarette burns, and provided you have a cut pile carpet, it’s a simple process to repair without having to do a corrective insert. First, with a pair of sharp, pointed scissors, carefully snip away the burned fibres.  Then, with a damp cloth,  gently wipe the burned area to remove some of the discoloration.  Work from the outside of the burn into the centre.

Next select a few undamaged carpet fibres from an inconspicuous area as in a closet or along a baseboard. Snip several of these with your scissors and twist the bases of the carpet fibres together to form a plug. Next get some fabric bonding glue and apply to the base of the plug and apply some to the burned cavity on the carpet. Place the plug carefully into the burned cavity and let dry. Remove excess glue from around the burned area.

In cases of larger burns such as from a steam iron, and in situations where you don’t have cut pile carpet, you’ll likely be looking at patching instead of a plug. In most situations, you can effect a suitable repair to restore your carpet so that it can continue to give you years of service.

Richard Watters