Carpet Cleaning Tips & Tricks

All of the tricks it's taken us 40 years to learn!

Secrets to Carpet Restoration from the Pros at E&B: Restretching, Repairing & Dyeing

carpet restoration

Have you done a quality check on your carpet lately? If it’s been awhile, you may start to notice torn seams, ripples, or stains. Don’t begin calculating the cost of a new carpet quite yet. At E&B, we don’t just professionally clean carpet, we can restore it, too, saving you time and money. Let us explain how our restoration process works.

Restretch Loose Carpet with a Power Stretcher  

When a carpet looks or feels loose, power stretchers can solve the problem. One benefit of restretching carpet is that it can prolong a carpet’s life. It takes care of wrinkles which can cause the carpet to wear out more quickly. Here are the steps we generally recommend:

  1. Remove furniture and vacuum the carpet thoroughly.
  2. Shampoo the carpet and wait for it to dry. Your carpet should be cleaned and dried at least 24 hours before stretching.
  3. Peel the old carpet back, pulling it carefully from the tack strips at the edges. Be sure to leave the carpet partially anchored for stretching.
  4. Remove the old tack strips and clean the floor, checking for any uneven areas that need to be hammered or sanded down.
  5. Once the floor is even and clean, put new tack strips down and reset the carpet pad.
  6. Lay the carpet down, and then use a power stretcher to pull and stretch the carpet. This tool often comes with extenders so you can adjust it for larger or smaller rooms. Sometimes, our experts will use a knee kicker to take care of smaller areas as well.
  7. Use a carpet cutter to trim the edges, if necessary. Then push the edges of the carpet into the tack strips on the floor.
  8. If you need to stretch carpet through a doorway, or across a high-traffic area, please let our experts know.

Patch or Repair Using the Carpet Seaming Technique

If you have carpet that is burned or damaged, we can usually repair it with carpet of the same color and style. This process is called carpet seaming. Professionals use this method to connect carpet between rooms as well.

The process is fairly simple. When we repair carpet, we pay attention to the direction of the nap on the carpet to line up the new section. If remnants from carpet installation are available, we use those. If not, we find a carpet sample that will fit in flawlessly. We first cut and remove the damaged carpet. Then, we insert a new piece using carpet tape and other supplies. This blending process makes your carpet look as good as new.

Try Carpet Dyeing Instead of a New Purchase

Many people assume that if their carpet isn’t the shade they imagined when they bought it, or if stains are too numerous, they need to replace it all. Before you spend thousands of dollars on a new carpet, however, consider dyeing it. If your carpet has faded from age or sun, we can bring back its full color. If you got pink when you preferred brown, we can make a new color happen for a fraction of the price.

Do you still have questions? That’s natural! Before starting a big project, let our experts at E&B know how we can help. We’re happy to provide professional service or give you a few more pointers.