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How Much Does Rug Repair Cost in Atlanta? A Plain-English Price Guide
What fringe work, binding, reweaving, and moth damage repair really cost — and how to tell if your rug is worth fixing.
August 17, 2026 9 min read S&S Rug Cleaners Team
Read Article Most area rug repairs cost between $150 and $800. Small jobs like securing loose fringe or re-wrapping a frayed side cord often land under $200. Hand reweaving a hole in a fine Oriental rug can run well past $1,000.
The spread is wide because rug repair is hand work. A technician is rebuilding the rug knot by knot, matching wool color and yarn thickness as they go. Two rugs with the same size hole can price very differently.
This guide breaks down what each type of repair typically costs, what pushes your quote up or down, and how to decide whether fixing a rug makes more sense than replacing it.
What You'll Learn in This Article
Typical rug repair prices by job type
What fringe and binding work costs
Why reweaving is priced by the hour
The 6 factors behind every quote
When to repair and when to replace
Mistakes that make repairs cost more
Quick Answer
Average Rug Repair Cost
- Edge and fringe work: roughly $10–$30 per linear foot, so most jobs finish between $100 and $400
- Hand reweaving: $150–$400 for a small hole, and $500–$1,500+ for larger damaged areas
- Moth or pet damage: priced as treatment plus repair, since the cause has to be handled before the rug is rebuilt
These are typical market ranges for professional rug restoration, not a fixed price list. Hand work is quoted after a technician sees the rug — which is why our evaluations and quotes are free.
Cost by Repair Type
Rug Repair Prices by Type of Damage
Rug repair is not one service. It is a set of very different hand techniques, each priced its own way. Here is what the common ones typically run.
| Repair Type | What It Fixes | Typical Cost Range |
|---|---|---|
| Fringe stabilizing | Loose or unraveling end knots | $50 – $300 |
| Fringe replacement | Worn-away or missing fringe | $10 – $30 per linear foot |
| Side cord / overcasting | Frayed or split rug edges | $5 – $20 per linear foot |
| Binding or serging | Machine-made rug edges | $3 – $12 per linear foot |
| Small hole reweaving | Coin-sized holes and burns | $150 – $400 |
| Large-area reweaving | Missing sections, pet chewing | $500 – $1,500+ |
| Moth damage repair | Grazed pile and larval damage | Treatment + repair, quoted together |
| Pile shearing and blending | Uneven or crushed pile | $75 – $250 |
A quick note on the vocabulary. Overcasting means hand-wrapping yarn around the rug's outer edge so the side cord stops unraveling. Reweaving means rebuilding the foundation — the warp and weft threads underneath — and then knotting new pile into it. Our complete rug repair and restoration guide walks through each technique in more detail.
Edges & Fringe
Why Fringe and Edge Repairs Are Priced by the Foot
Fringe is not decoration. On a hand-knotted rug, the fringe is the warp — the structural threads the entire rug is tied onto. When fringe wears away, the knots at the end of the rug start letting go.
Because that damage runs along the rug's width, the work is measured in linear feet. A 9' x 12' rug with both ends failing means 18 feet of hand work. At $10 to $30 per foot, that is a meaningful job.
The same rug end, damaged and restored. Edge work is measured in linear feet, which is why the size of the rug matters as much as the severity.
Stabilizing costs less than replacing
If the fringe is thinning but the end knots are intact, a technician can secure the row and stop the unraveling. That is the cheapest fringe outcome there is. Wait another year and the same rug may need full fringe replacement instead.
Sewn-on fringe is cheaper than knotted fringe
New fringe can be machine-sewn onto the rug's end, or hand-knotted into the original foundation. Sewn fringe costs noticeably less and looks fine on decorative rugs. Hand-knotted fringe preserves the value of a fine piece and costs more accordingly.
Side cords fail quietly
The selvedge, or side cord, is the wrapped edge running down the length of the rug. Vacuum beater bars and furniture legs chew through it slowly. Catching it early keeps the job in the overcasting range instead of the reweaving range.
Reweaving
What Makes Reweaving the Most Expensive Repair
Reweaving is the closest thing rug care has to surgery. The technician rebuilds the missing foundation first, then ties new knots row by row to match the surrounding pattern.
A single square inch of a finely knotted rug can hold several hundred knots. Each one is placed by hand. That is why a hole the size of a quarter can take hours, and why price tracks knot density more than it tracks the size of the hole.
Color matching adds to the work. Wool from a dye lot woven decades ago has aged in sunlight and washing. A good repair uses yarn dyed to match the rug as it looks today, not as it looked when it was new.
A reweave starts underneath: new warp and weft threads rebuild the foundation before a single knot of pile goes back in.
Knot density — finer rugs take more hours per square inch
Pattern complexity — a medallion is harder to rebuild than a solid field
Yarn sourcing — silk and unusual colors take longer to match
Foundation condition — dry rot around the hole widens the repair area
Antique pieces have their own rules, and not every old rug should be rewoven back to showroom condition. Our guide on repairing antique rugs covers when conservation beats restoration, and our repair service page shows the kinds of damage we take on.
Pricing Factors
6 Factors That Determine Your Repair Quote
1 How the rug was made
Hand-knotted rugs are repaired knot by knot. Machine-made and tufted rugs are repaired with patching, binding, and backing work, which is faster and cheaper. If you are unsure which you own, our guide to identifying quality rugs shows what to look for on the back.
2 Fiber and dyes
Wool is forgiving. Silk is not. Silk yarn is expensive, harder to source in a matching color, and slower to work with, so silk repairs carry a premium. Rugs with unstable dyes may also need a spot test and dye stabilizing before anything else happens.
3 How much area is affected
One hole is a contained job. Scattered damage across a whole border is many small jobs in a row. Technicians quote by the hours the work will take, so total affected area matters more than the worst single spot.
4 What caused the damage
Moths and pets leave more than a hole behind. Larvae and eggs must be eliminated with professional moth treatment or the new wool becomes their next meal. Urine has to be flushed from the foundation with pet urine removal before repair, since dried salts weaken the fibers around the repair area.
5 Whether the rug needs cleaning first
Repairs are done on a clean rug. Grit in the foundation abrades new yarn, and colors cannot be matched accurately against a dirty surface. Most restoration jobs start with a full wash, so budget for professional rug cleaning alongside the repair.
6 How invisible you want the repair
There is a real difference between a structural fix that stops the damage and a museum-grade repair no one can find. Both are valid. Tell your technician which outcome you want, because it changes the hours and therefore the price.
Repair or Replace
Is Rug Repair Worth the Cost?
Use a simple test. Compare the repair quote to what the rug would cost to replace with something of equal quality. If repair comes in under half of that, it is almost always the better move.
Repair it if the rug is hand-knotted, antique, or has family history
Repair it if the damage is contained and the foundation is otherwise sound
Replace it if it is an inexpensive machine-made rug with widespread wear
Replace it if dry rot has spread through the foundation across the rug
One more thing worth weighing: a well-made rug that gets repaired and washed on schedule can outlast its owner. A quality rug pad and regular Oriental and Persian rug cleaning are the cheapest repairs you will ever buy, because they prevent the expensive ones.
Avoid These
5 Mistakes That Make Rug Repair Cost More
Waiting. Rug damage spreads. A two-inch run of loose knots becomes a foot of missing pile in a season of foot traffic.
Fabric glue and iron-on tape. Adhesive stiffens the foundation and has to be cut out before a real repair, adding hours to the job.
Trimming the fringe off. Cutting damaged fringe removes the warp ends that hold the knots, so the rug starts unraveling faster.
Ignoring moths. Repairing moth damage without treating the infestation means paying twice. Watch for the signs of a wool moth problem.
Letting a wet rug sit. Water weakens the foundation and invites mildew. Our first-48-hours guide explains what to do instead.
Nearly every expensive repair we see started as a cheap one that someone put off. An annual look at the ends and edges of your rug costs nothing and catches most of it.
Getting Quoted
How to Get an Accurate Rug Repair Quote
No honest shop can price hand work over the phone without seeing the rug. What a good shop can do is tell you the likely range quickly, and confirm it in writing after inspection.
Rugs 8' x 10' and larger qualify for free pickup and delivery anywhere in metro Atlanta.
Send photos first. One wide shot of the whole rug, one close-up of the damage, and one of the back tells us most of what we need.
Measure the rug and the damage. Linear feet of affected edge, or inches across a hole, sharpen the estimate immediately.
Say what the rug means to you. An heirloom and a hallway runner deserve different repair plans at different prices.
Ask about transport. We offer free pickup and delivery on rugs 8' x 10' and larger, and 15% off if you drop the rug off yourself.
You should always get the scope, the timeline, and the price before work begins. That is how we run every job, and you can see the full workflow on our cleaning process page.
The Bottom Line on Rug Repair Cost
Budget $150 to $800 for most repairs, less for simple edge work, and more for reweaving fine or antique pieces. The price follows the hours, and the hours follow how the rug was made and how far the damage has spread.
The cheapest thing you can do today is find out where you stand. Request a free evaluation with photos of the damage, or call (404) 355-2126 — after 30 years of restoring Atlanta's rugs, we will tell you honestly whether yours is worth saving.
Got Questions?
Rug Repair Cost FAQ
Common questions about rug repair prices in Atlanta
Find Out What Your Rug Repair Will Cost — Free
Send us photos of the damage and we'll tell you what it takes to fix it, what it will cost, and whether it's worth doing. Free pickup and delivery on rugs 8' x 10' and larger in metro Atlanta.
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