Home Maintenance Tips

How to

Repair and Replace

Great Carpet Solutions

Remove Stains

  • Inks – ballpoint ink: sponge with methylated spirits or mineral turpentine and then rub with a detergent solution. You can also try hair spray or nail polish remover but first test this on a part of the fabric that is hidden.
  • Lipstick – treat the stain with methylated spirits or salad oil. Alternatively, rub in petroleum jelly, cold cream or white margarine and wipe with white bread. Soak the stain in lemon juice if the fabric is white and in a 50/50 water/juice solution if it is coloured.
  • Tea – apply some soda water, sponge, rinse and blot dry. Finish off by dabbing the area with a 50/50 mix of water and peroxide and finally, sponge with clean water and blot dry.
  • Wine – remove with glycerine or a 50/50 mix of peroxide and water.
  • Chocolate – remove the worst of the deposit. Use a clean cloth to dab on a solution made up of half a teaspoon of mild detergent in 500ml of water. If the stain is persistent, try a solution made up of a tablespoon of ammonia in half a cup of water and dab as before.
  • Coffee – sponge with a solution of borax. If the stain still remains, beat up an egg yolk, rub it into the stain with a clean white cloth and then rinse in clean water. You can also spray with a branded stain remover and then rinse in clean water.
  • Beer – squirt some soda water over the patch, rinse with clean water and blot dry.
  • Blood – the sooner you get it off the better so, the first step is to wash the blood out in cool water. If the blood has dried, dab it with meat tenderiser and add cool water. It will take about 20 minutes or so to soften the stain, after which you should sponge off with cool water. Blood on leather can be removed with a little hydrogen peroxide dabbed onto the deposit, wiping it off after the bubbling has commenced.

Repair Stains

Here’s how you can make an invisible repair…

  1. Use a utility knife or snap-off knife to remove the damaged portion, making sure that you cut carefully between the weave and ensuring that you don’t cut through the under-felt. Keep the cut-out as small as possible.
  2. Now cut your patch slightly larger than the hole it is to fill and dry fit it. Remember, the patch is cut along the same plane as the damaged portion that you removed. Naturally, you should ensure that if you have a patterned carpet, your patch matches. If your patch is a little bit too big, rather cut another or trim it carefully. Don’t enlarge the hole in the carpet – it should be as small as possible.
  3. To check for a snug fit, press it in around the corners and edges first, finishing off by pressing the centre down flat.
  4. Once happy, remove the patch, lift the carpet around the cut-out and apply a coating of contact adhesive to secure the carpet surrounding the patch to the under-felt.
  5. Apply glue to the open area of under-felt and press the patch into position as you did when dry-fitting. Carefully snip off any loose tufts and then, if you used contact adhesive, put some heavy books onto the repair while the adhesive cures completely.

Carpet Repair

Shopping List

  • Utility knife or snap-off knife
  • Contact adhesive

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