Area Rug Repair Cost: What You Need to Know

You put a lot of thought into the rugs you choose to adorn your home.

But what happens when the dog sees the fringe as a toy or your well-loved rug starts to show signs of wear?

Don’t worry because you have options.

And understanding area rug repair cost gives you an idea of which choice is best for your precious show-piece.

Area rugs add a touch of style

There’s a whole lotta hard surface flooring in homes.

A few of the most popular choices are hardwood, tile, natural stone and LVT.

The pros are that these floors are easy to maintain and are rather durable.

The cons are that they are hard and cold, especially in the winter.

Our customers love, love, love to cover them up with something creative like an area rug purchased from their favorite furniture store or online shop. They may have even had one custom made right here at HammondKnoll.

The entire family gets to enjoy the soft feel of the rug under their feet as they hang out in the family room – including dogs and cats!

Over time, the beloved rug gets soiled and the fringes (aka tassels) also get pulled away from the ends or the sides of the rug begin to unravel.

Or the worst: The puppy gets ahold of the end and chews it like a rag doll. BAD DOG!

Regardless, this can become an unsightly mess to any rug in a room.

But there is good news: Your rug can be repaired and saved again. YAY!

Area rug repair cost by type of fix

Here are some of your options and area rug repair cost, too.

Binding

Binding is a polyester tape that is machine-sewn on the end, sides or all-around a carpet or rug, protecting it from unraveling or pulling apart along the edges.

Binding tape comes in lots of colors and two different sizes: ¾”, which is standard, and 3” tape that can add a wider strip of binding to any flat-woven rug.

It’s the less expensive option for carpet and rug edges.

The rug below had been attacked by a 4-month-old lab. We cleaned the rug, cut down the edges to balance out the pattern and bound it all the way around.

The cost of binding is $4.10 per linear foot, and the rug size is 3×5, which is 16’ of binding tape.

16 x $4.10 = $24.60 for the binding.

Binding is typically done on regular, standard carpet that is cut to a specific size or on a less-expensive area rug.

Surging

Surging has a nicer appearance than binding. It’s a nylon yarn that’s looped on the outer edge using a “serger” sewing machine. Surging comes in a variety of colors.

The hand-tied rug below got caught in the vacuum cleaner beater bar and it tore a chunk right out of the end. Ouch!

We cut the rug back to where it was torn and balanced out both ends of the rug to make the pattern even. Then, we reinforced the ends to keep it from unraveling and applied the surging.

As you can see, it looked new again.

The cost to serge a rug is $6.75 per linear foot, and the rug size was 5×7. We surged both ends.

10’ x $6.75 = $67.50 for the surging.

Surging is most-commonly used on machine-made or hand-tied area rugs, or for customers who prefer a “fancier” finish on the edges of their rug.

Fringing

Tassels on the ends of a rug are mostly made of cotton and are stocked at HK in neutral colors, but some custom colors can be ordered upon request.

The hand-tied rug below has been around for more than 40 years and has been “well-used.”

Until it got Knoll of course!

We cut both ends to balance out the patterns and reinforced them to ensure they don’t unravel further.

Then the fringes were sewn on and we surged the sides of the rug.

The cost to repair the fringes is $14.06 per linear foot.

The rug was 2-3 x 10-6. With fringing and reinforcing the ends, 4.6 lin feet x $14.06 =  $64.67.

Surging the sides = 21.2 lin feet x $160.84.

Additional area rug repairs

There are so many more custom repairs that can be done to machine-made or hand-tied rugs, including:

• Applying a new monk’s cloth backing to keep the rug from wrinkling.
• Applying latex to the backing of a rug where moths may have eaten through the wool. This keeps the rug from losing additional fibers.
• If a rug is too large, it can be cut down into a smaller size or even re-shaped to oval or round.
• If you want a larger rug, two rugs can be combined to make one big rug out of the same pattern.
• A braided rug that loses its stitching can be re-sewn.
• If your boat carpet is old and ratty, it can be used as a template to cut and bind new marine carpet. Snaps can be added, as well
• If a rug is wrinkled or oddly-shaped, it can be blocked out to remove the wrinkles or to reshape.

Which area rug repair do you need?

Whether you need new binding, some surging or a fringe fix, you have options.

Use this guide to have an idea of what your area rug repair cost may be to restore your favorite decorative element to its former glory.

What it boils down to is that any rug repair is possible – you just need to call Knoll!