Carpet Burns - How to Repair Them

Carpet burns can happen in a variety of ways, but dropped cigarettes are by far the most common cause. Of course you should try to pick up that lit cigarette as quickly as possible. If you do get it before it makes a hole, the damage can be easily repaired.

Light Burns

Repaired may not be the right word here, because with light carpet burns, you just need to make the damage disappear. To do this, you simply use a small pair of sharp scissors. Carefully clip off the blackened ends of the carpet fibers until no burn is visible. Then, if necessary, you can trim the tufts around the spot, shortening them slightly, so the remaining depression blends into the surrounding carpet.

If done right (and assuming the burn was minor), the damage will be invisible. If this doesn't work, you can try the method for repairing cigarette holes.

Repairing Cigarette or Burn Holes in Carpet

Often a dropped cigarette will burn a neat little hole right to the bottom of the carpet fibers. You can improve the appearance of these holes by trimming away the burnt fibers, as described above. But you will still have a noticeable hole.

Now what you need, is to fill the hole with new fibers. If you have any left-over pieces from when the carpet was installed, you can use these. Otherwise, clip some fibers from some hidden spot which has the same carpet, like the corner of a closet, or behind a door. If you take just a small piece from several different locations, it will likely be entirely unnoticeable.

Put a small gob of waterproof glue into the burn hole and, using tweezers, push the new carpet fibers into place until the hole is full. Cover the spot with a clean white cloth or paper towel and place something heavy on it. Let it dry for a few hours.

Afterwards you can trim the fibers if any are sticking up above the level of the surrounding carpet. If done well, the cigarette hole will now be invisible.