Can I save a shrunk carpet???

[bubbles1]

I decided to clean the carpet myself with a rug dr cleaner and am now regretting it. The carpet has been down a year and has a high wool content. I used lukewarm water and only a brief clean and yet it has still shrunk away by up to an inch in some places.
Is there any hope for it? I have been investigating stretching but not found much for this particular problem.
No I-told-you-so's allowed!

 

[Diyisfun]

Was it a fitted carpet?
If it was then I cant see how it would shrink

 

[BigDY]

You could always dot'n'dab your walls to bring them in by an inch...?

 

[mattylad]

Move it to a smaller room?
stretch it out again using a carpet kicker & lots of hard work?

 

[FourFootMedia]

Claim a new one on insurance?

 

[crazycanuck]

what about a ceramic border on the floor to match or offset colour to the rug, then trim the rug to fit.

 

[Chud]

Erm...if it were me I'd look in yellow pages and get a local fitter round to take a look - sounds to me like it wasn't properly gripped in at the walls - they may be able to get it back in and I doubt it'd cost too much - cheaper than a new carpet at least!

N.B. Do not go to carpet right etc to find a fitter - they'll charge you 3x what a fitter will - they keep most of it and pay the same fitter what's left.

Failing that I'd have a close look at Rug doctor and see if it says anything about shrinking the carpet - I know they say about testing it for colour fastness etc. - you may be able to get them to replace (wouldn't hold my breath though!)

 

[lucretius]

Funny that about the carpet shrinking.

It always baffles me how sheep themselves don't shrink when it rains

 

[mattysupra]

im guessing its a woven carpet if it has shrunk. This is caused by over wetting. It really only takes a light mist of water to shrink a woven carpet. Also its not the wool that has shrunk but the backing. I also guess that it has shrunk more in the width than the length.

It maybe a fitting error that has also not helped the problem. If it is a woven carpet it should have double gripper on the width and its good practise to also double grip the length, along with the correct gripper and correct gripper gap (approx 5-7mm away from the wall)

If it is a woven carpet you have no chance of getting it to stretch back in the width. If secondary backed carpet you might have a chance with a power stretcher and a fitter that knows what he is doing!

To tell if it is woven have a look at the backing and see if it is a woven back, normally has a white fine line running through it every 5mm or so. If its seconary backed the backing will be stuck on, normally jute and not semetrical (twisted and not perfectly straight) or could be white.

 

[roughcaster]

Funny that about the carpet shrinking.

It always baffles me how sheep themselves don't shrink when it rains

That piece of a sheep we had for our Sunday dinner certainly shrunk after it came out of the oven.

Roughcaster.