If you love to keep pets and have carpets on your floors, you stand a risk that your carpets may get damaged by your pets. As such, this article will be a useful guide for you to repair carpet damage by pets, irrespective of whether the damage is done is minor or major.
Like most people, you do not want to buy new carpets every time your pets damage them.
- Why keep pets?
- What are the cons of keeping pets?
- How pets could damage carpet
- Why should you repair carpet damage by pets yourself?
- What are the tools and materials you need to repair carpet damage by pets?
- How to repair minor carpet damage by pets
- How to repair major carpet damage by pets
Why keep pets?
If your dog or cat can damage your carpets and cause you to make additional expenses, why keep it in the first place? Have your pets recently damaged your carpets? Are you thinking of not having pets anymore?
Humans love pets, and the advantages of having them quite outweigh the risk of damage to your carpets, which they may cause. So, what are the advantages of keeping a pet?
Good pets can significantly reduce your stress levels. There is a good-feel experience that comes with stroking a friendly cat or dog. Also, other people tend to trust you more if you have a friendly pet in your home.
Another advantage of having a pet is that it is always there to empathize with you on your bad days. Having a pet who shares your pains can help you in those moments.
More so, a pet, particularly a dog, can help increase safety for you as it can scare off most home intruders.
What are the cons of keeping pets?
Other disadvantages may be associated with having pets other than a damaged carpet. Having to care for a pet is an additional responsibility as it will depend on you for its sustenance.
Having a pet can affect your health negatively, particularly if you have allergies. You can not always tell what allergies you have until you are exposed to the allergens, and so you may not know that you have animal allergies until you get a pet. An unfriendly pet can also increase your anxiety level.
All pets are living creatures, and so they need to stay healthy. Therefore, you will have to spend additional money to treat them when they are sick. More so, in the first few years of owning them, you may have to take them for yearly vaccination and register check-ups with the vet.
How could pets damage carpets?
Though pets could be loving, cute, and helpful, this does not in any way erode the fact that they could be destructive. We will examine how pets can damage carpets, giving either major or minor damage.
- Pets pee and waste
This is the most common and difficult damage pets give to carpets, especially when they are still young and undergoing house-training. Pets pee could be very difficult to remove when it stays too long on the carpet. Cats pee is especially very difficult to remove. You may have to replace the carpet if you are not skillful at repairing the damage.
- Bites and chewing
Kitten and Puppies, at times, could catch fun having a go at your carpet. This could cause very intensive damage, which could be very difficult to patch-up. The reason for this is not far fetched; chewing is a natural behavior for most pets, especially dogs. When they do not have toys to chew, frustrated, and with excessive energy, they opt for whatever is available, of course, the carpet is the most available.
- Scratching
If you are a pet lover, the sight of scratch on your furniture, electronics, blankets, and carpets won’t be a strange one to you.
- Paw dirt
Many times these little darlings come into the living room, after a walk in the park, with dirt in their paws, which could place a permanent stain on your vintage carpets.
- Furs on Carpet
Having pets with furs could be challenging. If care is not taken, the pet’s hair could eventually turn out to be part of the carpet that would not be permanent. This might seem minor damage, but it could be irritating, especially for those with allergies and kids. Regular Vacuuming may not be able to take out the hairs. You may have to result in cutting out the affected area.
Why should you repair carpet damage by pets yourself?
Repair of damaged carpets is a good do-it-yourself project which you will derive great satisfaction from if you do it well. Additionally, you get to learn a new skill in the process. You can then subsequently help friends and family if they ever have a similar situation, either for free or at a price. You can even consider doing this as a side job. Furthermore, you save money that you would have otherwise spent on hiring a professional to do it for you, provided you do it well.
What are the tools and materials you need to repair carpet damage by pets?
There are many tools and materials you need to fix carpet damage by pets, some of which you may not have at home. If this is the case, you can rent the tools and materials or even buy them.Usually, the tools you will need include a tape measure, utility knife, sewing shears, box cutter, heavy objects such as books, and carpet steam iron. The materials you will use include a carpet seaming tape and waterproof adhesives. The tools and materials you will use depend on the type of carpet damage you want to repair.
How to repair minor carpet damage by pets
Minor damages done to your carpets by pets can range from simple loose threads to worn out fibers to damaged seams. I will cover how you can repair each of these specific damages to your carpets.
Trim down loose ends:
If all the damage done to your carpets by your pets is loose threads, then you should be able to fix this with a pair of sewing shears. All you have to do is trim down the loose threads with the sewing shears. Once you do this, it will be hard for anyone to notice the damage.
Replace worn out fibers with new ones from other parts of the carpet:
Rough play on your carpets by your pets can wear out the carpet fibers. To fix this, first look for a low-key area in the house where you can cut a sizable amount of carpet fibers to replace the worn-out ones. You should measure the length and breadth of the worn-out fibers with a tape measure first so that you can cut an adequate size. Low-key areas of the house may include underneath the bed or closet. You will need to use a box cutter to cut out the carpet fibers. After you have cut out the fibers, use a waterproof adhesive to hold them in place to the area in question. The waterproof adhesive is to be laid on the carpet backing.
Repair damaged seam:
A seam is a place where two carpet pieces have been joined together. Though the seam is usually invisible, if well done when the carpets were laid, a pet can mess it up. To repair a carpet seam damage by pets, place carpet tape along the line of the seam under and between both pieces of carpets, making sure that the two pieces are perfectly matched.
After that, plug in a steaming iron. Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s guide when heating the iron, so you don’t exceed the recommended heating temperature and cause additional damage to the carpets yourself. Use the carpet seaming iron to melt the adhesive in the carpet tape, which now joins both ends of the carpets.
You may have to place heavy objects on the seam’s area for some time for good adhesion to take effect. At any rate, you will find it quite challenging to fix a damaged seam, particularly if you have not done anything like that before because it is quite tricky, but you will find it the instructions here valuable.
How to repair major carpet damage by pets
Pets can be rough on your carpets sometimes. More so, they may be bored and intentionally cause major damage to your carpets out of anxiety. For major damages, buy a patch that matches your carpet and is of adequate size. As mentioned earlier, for worn out fibers, you should measure the length and breadth of the damaged spot with a tape measure first so that you can buy a patch of adequate size. Map out the damaged area you want to patch. Use the box cutter or a utility knife to cut out the damaged spot and use carpet tape to secure the patch firmly in place.
