If you rug wash, do you offer common repairs?

[T Monahan]

We did a common repair this evening on a flat weave. As you can see, the ends were unsightly and the body of the rug was in danger of continuous self destruct if help did not arrive:





We took out weft yarns until we had a straight row of rug left and finished by securing warp ends:



For those that offer this in your area, what do you charge retail?

 

[Ron K]

I wouldn't charge a dime for that crappy repair.

 

[rhyde]

Don't hold back Ron tell us what you really think.

 

[T Monahan]

I wouldn't charge a dime for that crappy repair.

What is the problem Mr. Koller? The rug ends were a mess. We took out weft yarns until we had a straight line and then secured it. (The client wanted it like that) The client loves the finish product.

Now, please show us your simple repairs sir.

FYI: I know Randy Hyde does lots of extensive good restoration and weaving at his facility. Likely, if egged on, he will display his work on what can be done. DA Burns does a bunch too too!

 

[rhyde]

Don't worry about it Tom, Ron's past experience with buying rug cleaning equipment has left him a little edgy with anyone selling equipment.
He put the kerby door to door vacuum salesman in the hospital last week ..3rd one this year!



We do lots O repair we just highered another repair person


dog damage

 

[Ron K]

I've had both companies you speak of do repairs for me, have you? No comparison. I've also sent rugs to
Robert Mann he does a great job, high quality.

Tom there are artisans and there are cut and pasters if you take a minute and actually look at the rug you see the red matched the red hour glass designs in the corners also the beige weft threads and beige hour glass designs.You could have saved the beige weft threads and a couple of red wefts at less work and kept the original design.

In Randy's work he did not just cut off the minor border he took the time to do it right.

 

[rhyde]

I get your point Ron but i think it looks good the way it is actually better without long fringe.The other end in the photo it's hard to tell the condition of the weft threads ...it's best to take it down to where there's integrity/tension in the weave. This is not a valuable Turkish Kilim so repair solutions need to be efficient and somewhat economical.

This is a challenging issue for repair people the value of a rug being equal to or less than the cost of a proper repair. Many old rugs aren't what they used to be have lost much of their value in market we had a 6x9 1930's sarouk good condition but needed the ends sewn cost 360.00 on top of 200.00 for cleaning they paid 90.00 for the rug we felt lucky to get the cleaning in the rug.

 

[Ron K]

Tom
http://www.carpetcleaningpoulsbo.com/ourservices.html
What we do well we do the rest we are smart enough to know who the "Real" experts are.

Randy
I agree with the long fringe but I think you could have just shortened and secured. I've seen many a shortening repair expose stained warp thread that are then bleached making a bad situation worse. Sorry the implication of quality with this just drives me into "rug fag mode" I've had a bad week dealing with shitty repairs from others.
I'll be Nicey Nice .......................kissey kiss.............

 

[T Monahan]

I get your point Ron but i think it looks good the way it is actually better without long fringe.The other end in the photo it's hard to tell the condition of the weft threads ...it's best to take it down to where there's integrity/tension in the weave. This is not a valuable Turkish Kilim so repair solutions need to be efficient and somewhat economical.

This is a challenging issue for repair people the value of a rug being equal to or less than the cost of a proper repair. Many old rugs aren't what they used to be have lost much of their value in market we had a 6x9 1930's sarouk good condition but needed the ends sewn cost 360.00 on top of 200.00 for cleaning they paid 90.00 for the rug we felt lucky to get the cleaning in the rug.

What Randy said. This was economical and what the client wanted. I did say 'common repairs'. We have had more sophisticated repairs done, but they get outsourced.

 

[rhyde]

I did say 'common repairs'. We have had more sophisticated repairs done, but they get outsourced.

Alright, I see how it's gonna be but "technically" your photos are of an alteration not repair



Now get outa here and go build me a duster!

 

[T Monahan]

Alright, I see how it's gonna be but "technically" your photos are of an alteration not repair



Now get outa here and go build me a duster!

Okay, for here and now I will call Overcast and Over edge as "Common Alterations" according to Randy Hyde. (However, my clients want to call them repairs)

 

[Ron K]

You "Repair " a Toilet or a Vortex...you restore a Rug!

 

[rhyde]

You did reduce and alter the rug ,no? and technically you didn't over cast the edge either


Anyway as for end finishes I hate the Zangir or Tehran finish. It's simply a knot tied around the warps it's quick but it never lasts and slides off the warps over time.
Any respecting rug cleaner uses a needle and threat to properly sew a securing stitch.


it looks like this new




but it always ends up like this

 

[T Monahan]

You did reduce and alter the rug ,no? and technically you didn't over cast the edge either


Anyway as for end finishes I hate the Zangir or Tehran finish. It's simply a knot tied around the warps it's quick but it never lasts and slides off the warps over time.
Any respecting rug cleaner uses a needle and threat to properly sew a securing stitch.


it looks like this new




but it always ends up like this

Now, this is what I call a healthy thread dialogue. Submitting pros and cons with options. Client involvement with the decision on how altering, mending, repair or restore will be done and accepted. And yes, cost points on each option.

 

[The Great Oz]

Yes we offer repairs services. We can make almost any repair but we may recommend a rug worth $6,000 and needing $30,000 worth of repairs at our prices be sent overseas where the labor is cheaper. We may be able to do a beautiful repair on a Navajo, but might refer a high-value one (with a high repair budget) to Mann. We have to work with the customers budget, and sometimes partially repair an item or do a "hold" repair just to keep the damage from getting worse. A Chinese or Pakistani rug may only have enough value to justify machine-sewn fringe.

The most popular service right now? Removing fringe entirely. It's a more contemporary look, and it's amazing how much better the typical factory-made rug looks without the scraggle of fringe on the ends. "Alterations" such as removing fringe or reducing the size of a hand-knotted rug might irritate some people, but ultimately the rug belongs to the customer and we'll do what they pay us to do.

(With the exception of coloring to hide wear. Gotta draw the line there.)


PS: The most finicky rug repair can always be looked down upon by someone.
A woman that had been doing repair for the Smithsonian relocated to Seattle and applied for a job with us. She sniffed at our "commodity level" repairs and walked out, but called a few weeks later to apologize for her attitude. The only work she could find that matched her expertise was repairing a set of antique kimonos, a job that had to be completed in two years and had a maximum budget of $75,000. She had to learn that in the real world there are money and time constraints, and the overall value of the piece has to be considered, and that a business offering a service has to be able to make money at that service.

 

[Clean Response]

Yes we offer repairs services. We can make almost any repair but we may recommend a rug worth $6,000 and needing $30,000 worth of repairs at our prices be sent overseas where the labor is cheaper. We may be able to do a beautiful repair on a Navajo, but might refer a high-value one (with a high repair budget) to Mann. We have to work with the customers budget, and sometimes partially repair an item or do a "hold" repair just to keep the damage from getting worse. A Chinese or Pakistani rug may only have enough value to justify machine-sewn fringe.

The most popular service right now? Removing fringe entirely. It's a more contemporary look, and it's amazing how much better the typical factory-made rug looks without the scraggle of fringe on the ends. "Alterations" such as removing fringe or reducing the size of a hand-knotted rug might irritate some people, but ultimately the rug belongs to the customer and we'll do what they pay us to do.

(With the exception of coloring to hide wear. Gotta draw the line there.)


PS: The most finicky rug repair can always be looked down upon by someone.
A woman that had been doing repair for the Smithsonian relocated to Seattle and applied for a job with us. She sniffed at our "commodity level" repairs and walked out, but called a few weeks later to apologize for her attitude. The only work she could find that matched her expertise was repairing a set of antique kimonos, a job that had to be completed in two years and had a maximum budget of $75,000. She had to learn that in the real world there are money and time constraints, and the overall value of the piece has to be considered, and that a business offering a service has to be able to make money at that service.

Did you hire her back? Did you penalize her pay if you hired her back?

 

[Brian H]

Well put Bryan!!!

We also do a lot of rug repair. We have 5-6 repair people doing anything from simple machine repairs to much more complex reweaves. The driving force behind the type of repair that is done is really the customer.

We have done extensive repairs on worthless pieces of junk simply because there was sentimental value to the rug. The repair costs in those case can exceed by many times the cost of the rug. Even though we tell the customer the repair isn't worth it, they still insist. "It belonged to my mother and it's about the only thing i have left of hers.."

On the flip side of that, I have also seen beautiful 70-100 year old hand made pieces that the customer insist we put on a ready-made fringe. We try and educate people about what they are doing to the value of their rug, but it just comes down to money sometimes.

We have a repair service we ship the extensive repairs and reweaves to in Egypt and it has saved our customers thousands of dollars. The hiccup with that is that it can take several months to get the rugs back.

 

[rhyde]

PS: The most finicky rug repair can always be looked down upon by someone.
A woman that had been doing repair for the Smithsonian relocated to Seattle and applied for a job with us. She sniffed at our "commodity level" repairs and walked out, but called a few weeks later to apologize for her attitude. The only work she could find that matched her expertise was repairing a set of antique kimonos, a job that had to be completed in two years and had a maximum budget of $75,000. She had to learn that in the real world there are money and time constraints, and the overall value of the piece has to be considered, and that a business offering a service has to be able to make money at that service.

We've gotten away from employing "experienced" restoration people it's attitude issues. Your business, type of rugs, pay is often not good enough for them .
Particularly for us smaller shops everyone wears more than one hat it's simply toxic to work around.

 

[tmdry]

Where do you guys find people to do repair work and what is the current pay rate for the job description?

 

[The Great Oz]

Bill,
In any metro area there will be immigrants that have a history of rugs and weaving. Pay would depend on skill level. Outsourced repairs can be done by paying a percentage of the repair cost.