Fringe Repair & Replacement
Fringe is the end of the rug’s foundation, not decoration, so when it shreds the rug is unravelling. We secure the ends, rebuild lost warps, and replace or re-knot fringe to match the original.
Repair & Restoration
Rug Repair & Restoration in Chattanooga
Torn edges, missing fringe, moth grazing, a corner the puppy decided was a chew toy, or a rug that spent a night on a wet basement floor. Most of it is fixable by hand.
Hand Work
Repairs That Disappear Into the Weave
Rug repair is not patching. A proper repair rebuilds the rug the way it was originally made — foundation first, then pile, matched to the original knot density and dye lot — so the repaired section moves, wears and ages at the same rate as everything around it. Done well, you have to be told where it was.
That is slow work. Reweaving is measured in square inches, not square feet, and a hand on a loom is the only tool that does it properly. The upside is that damage most people assume is terminal usually is not. Rugs arrive folded around a hole and go home flat and whole.
Every repair starts with a free assessment and a straight verdict. If the cost of the work is out of proportion to what the rug is worth, we say so instead of taking the job.
What We Fix
Repair & Restoration Services
From a short fringe tidy to rebuilding a foot of missing border.
Edge Binding & Serging
Side cords take the abuse from vacuum beaters and furniture legs. Once they split, the pile beside them starts letting go. Edges are rewrapped by hand in matched wool.
Reweaving & Hole Repair
Burns, tears and worn-through areas are rebuilt knot by knot. The foundation goes back first, then the pile, matched in fibre, colour and density to the field around it.
Moth Damage
Moth larvae eat wool from underneath, so by the time bare foundation shows there is usually an active problem. We treat the infestation, then reweave the grazed areas. Rugs stored over a summer in a garage or an attic are where we find it most.
Pet Damage
Chewed corners, clawed edges and urine-burnt dye. The rug is decontaminated first, then the missing structure is rebuilt and colour corrected where the original dye was destroyed.
Colour & Dye Correction
Sun-bleached bands from a west-facing window, bleach spots, and dye that migrated during a bad cleaning or a soaking. Colour is rebuilt by hand where the fibre is still sound.
Resizing & Reshaping
Rugs cut down to fit a room, or blocked back to square after years of buckling. Cut edges are properly finished so the rug reads as intentional rather than amputated.
Backing & Foundation Repair
Failed latex on hand-tufted rugs, brittle cotton warps in antiques, and rugs that ripple because the foundation gave way. Structure gets fixed before anything cosmetic.
Rug Pads & Prevention
A great many of the repairs we do could have been avoided by a decent pad. We fit breathable, non-adhesive pads sized to the rug — which matters most on a basement slab, where trapped moisture is the whole problem.
Wet Rug Service
Water Damage & Wet Basement Rug Restoration
A water heater that let go, a supply line behind a washing machine, a slow leak under a dishwasher, or groundwater arriving at the uphill wall of a finished lower level after a long wet week. The rug on that floor is now on a clock.
Why speed matters more than anything else
Wool survives being wet surprisingly well. What it does not survive is staying wet. In a warm room, mould establishes in a saturated foundation in roughly forty-eight hours, and once it is at the base of the pile you cannot vacuum, spray or air-dry it back out. At the same time unstable dyes start migrating, cotton foundations begin to rot, and whatever the water picked up crossing the floor — drywall dust, floor sealer, whatever was under the appliance — is curing into the rug.
A fan pointed at a wet rug is not restoration. It dries the surface, locks the contamination into the foundation, and produces a rug that smells fine for three weeks and then does not. The rug has to be flushed.
What to do before we arrive
- Get the rug off the wet floor and out from under furniture — wooden legs bleed stain into a damp pile within hours.
- Do not roll it tightly in plastic. That is an incubator. Loose and airy beats sealed.
- Photograph it wet, in place, before moving anything. Your insurer will want that.
- Skip the store-bought carpet shampoo. It sets contamination and complicates the wash.
- Ask us. Even if you are not sure the rug is worth saving, the assessment is free.
The restoration sequence
- Priority collection. Wet rugs are run ahead of routine cleaning where the schedule allows.
- Category assessment. Clean supply water, grey water and black water are three different jobs, and which one you have decides the method.
- Extraction and full flush. Contaminants are washed out of the foundation, not sealed in behind a dry surface.
- Antimicrobial treatment. Applied to the whole rug, front and back, before drying starts.
- Monitored flat drying. Forced filtered air with moisture readings taken to completion, so nothing goes home damp.
- Dye-bleed correction. Colours that migrated while the rug was wet are pulled back where the fibre allows.
- Structural repair. Rotted foundation and lost pile rewoven once the rug is stable and dry.
- Claim documentation. Photographs and a written condition report for your insurance carrier.
How It Works
From First Message to Delivery
Photos or Collection
Send pictures of the damage, or we collect the rug at no charge anywhere on the Hamilton County and North Georgia route.
Assessment & Quote
The damage is mapped, materials identified, and you get a written price with options. No work starts without your approval.
Clean First
Repairs go onto a clean rug. Working new wool into a dirty field leaves a visible patch a year later.
Materials Matched
Wool selected by fibre, weight and dye lot against the original, and tested against the field before it goes in.
Hand Repair
Foundation rebuilt, then pile knotted in at matching density, then sheared to the surrounding height.
Final Check & Return
Groomed, inspected against the intake photographs, and delivered back to your floor.
Questions
Repair & Restoration FAQ
Is my rug worth repairing?
You get a straight answer before any work starts. Repair makes sense when the rug
has real value — sentimental or monetary — and the foundation is sound.
When the cost of the work approaches what the rug is worth, we say so rather than
quietly running up an invoice.
How long does rug repair take?
It depends entirely on the area involved, because reweaving is hand work measured in
square inches. You get a timeline with the written quote, before you commit. Water
damage is handled differently because it is time-critical, so those rugs go into the
process as soon as they arrive rather than waiting their turn.
Can a rug soaked in a basement be saved?
Often, yes — more often than a first look suggests. What matters is how quickly
it is decontaminated and dried. Wool tolerates being wet far better than people
assume, but mould establishes in a damp foundation within roughly forty-eight hours
in a warm room, so the clock is real. Send the form before you throw anything out.
Will the repair be visible?
A good reweave is difficult to find once the pile is groomed. Wool is matched by
fibre, dye lot and knot density, and the foundation is rebuilt before the pile so the
repaired area wears at the same rate as the rest of the rug rather than sinking or
standing proud over time.
Do you work with insurance claims?
Yes. Condition is photographed at intake and throughout, and you get written
documentation of damage, treatment and value impact to submit to your carrier.
My rug ripples and will not lie flat. Can that be fixed?
Usually. Buckling comes from an uneven foundation, past improper drying, or years on
a pad that was too soft. The rug is washed, blocked back to square under tension, and
the foundation repaired where it has stretched or torn.
Send Us a Photo. We Will Tell You Straight.
Free assessment on every repair, and a real answer about whether it is worth doing.
Related Reading
Rug Cleaning
The six-stage hand wash every rug goes through, and why in-home wand cleaning fails here.
Cleaning processValley Care Notes
Humidity, basements, red clay and hardwood — what rug owners in this valley need to know.
Care notesBook a Collection
Collection and delivery included across Hamilton County and the North Georgia line.
Contact us