Heroic Rescues in the Nicks of Time

Your house isn’t meant to be a museum. You, children and pets live there, which means that in the course of daily life, you’ll find a hole in the wall here or there, a dent in a door, carpet tears, scrapes in the vinyl floor and nicks on the counter tops.

Such little imperfections can be annoying and unsightly, but they don’t have to be permanent. With the right materials and a little know-how, you can patch the holes and make the house at least a little like the Getty.

Wood Woes

Ever let kids play with action figures on the dining room table? If so, you’re probably familiar with the gouges, dents and scratches that penetrate the surface. Without refinishing, you can repair the damage fairly easily.

“A wax putty stick, available at many hardware stores, is indispensable to hiding scratches and gouges,” said Mark Bausman of Bausman & Father Furniture Refinishing in Huntington Beach. “You can get them in a number of popular colors; rub the stick into the defect, then polish it off with a soft cloth.”

Larger holes may need professional help. A polyester filler is mixed with a catalytic agent, applied into the hole, then sanded smooth. Then a pigment is used to paint color back into the patch to make it match the rest of the table.

In emergencies, you could fill a scratch using a simple brown crayon, or even mascara. “Your eye is drawn to a white spot on the furniture, and a crayon will cover up little nicks,” Bausman said.

Rug Ughs

Carpeting is a major home investment, which is why making sure it’s taken care of is so important. Modern carpets are very strong, and it’s not easy putting a hole in one with an average pair of scissors. However, perforations can happen.

It may occur while moving a large piece of furniture that has a sharp edge, by sitting in a chair that has an inadequate floor guard on one of the legs, or from an unsupervised child who happens to get hold of a carpet knife.

Many carpet-repair professionals say that one of the most common carpet crises occurs from irons. “People will lay a tablecloth or large piece of clothing on the carpet then iron out a few wrinkles down there,” said carpet installer Ellis Greenway of Santa Ana. “Then the phone rings or they don’t pick up the iron for some reason, and they end up with a big carpet burn.”

To fix a dime-sized hole, take fibers from a remnant or an inconspicuous area and glue them into the cavity, then use scissors to trim the patch so that the strands match the height of the rest of the carpeting.

Filling a larger hole needs more creativity, but if a remnant is available it can be easy. “Take a can [whose circumference is larger than the hole], put it on top of the hole and use a razor to cut a circle in the carpeting,” said Dominick Bilardo of Dominick’s Carpet & Rug Works in Anaheim. “On a piece of remnant carpeting, use the can and razor to cut away another, identical, patch.

“Pull up the piece with the hole and insert the one with the patch. You’ll need to use a good cement or epoxy to glue the carpet backing down onto the pad. It may look a little obvious at first, but over time it will blend in with the rest of the carpeting.”

Chair Scares

No matter how well you maintain furniture, eventually upholstered fabric will wear down, weaken and tear. Before throwing it out, or investing in all-new reupholstery, you may have recourse. Tears along seams can be re-sewn with a carpeting needle and thread, available at most fabric shops.

When sewing up a tear, take a tip from surgeons--the closer you make the stitches, the better. If the damage isn’t at a seam, and the piece is in good condition overall, you could opt to have it partially reupholstered.

“This involves trying to find a fabric that matches or at least looks very much like the fabric that’s on the chair already,” said Vicky Young of Home Upholstery in Anaheim. “If that can’t be found, and the piece is usually kept with its back to a wall, we can take fabric from its back.”

The patch fabric is used to re-cover the damaged panel from seam to seam. If the damage is on an arm, and the original fabric is no longer made, you might choose to have new arm covers made in a matching or contrasting color.

Holes in leather furniture are tougher to repair. A professional is generally recommended, as they will have the equipment and know-how to patch, apply fillers and refinish the leather to hide imperfections. Expect to pay $50 or more to hide a cigarette burn in a leather sofa.

For vinyl cushions, hardware stores carry kits that work on the same principle as leather repair--reattach tears or fill holes, then use a colored epoxy to cover up the handiwork.

Off the Wall

Ever check those little spring door stops that attach to the molding? They often get crushed or twisted over time as the door smacks into them. One day the door gets pushed too hard and too fast, the stop bends and the doorknob punches a neat hole into the drywall.

This happens so often most hardware stores carry wall-hole patch kits.

“After cleaning the area, you attach an extremely thin self-adhesive metal plate over the hole,” said Gary Lillge of Crown Hardware in Newport Beach. “You apply a joint or spackling compound to it and smooth and feather it out, then sand it smooth until it blends into the wall.”

Texturizers in spray cans are available to coat the finished patch to make it match the rest of the wall. And remember to replace the bad door stop; solid metal stops are likely to last longer than springs.

Floor Horrors

Vinyl flooring is known for its durability, but it’s not bulletproof. A scrape from a moving appliance or dropped knife can cut or puncture the surface, leaving a nasty wound.

“You want the installer to give you the pieces of unused flooring, and make sure you keep them in a safe place,” said Joel Spencer of Floors Unlimited in Orange.

Fixing a vinyl floor hole is similar to patching a carpet hole. Many vinyl patterns simulate tile, and in that case it’s not hard to cut out the square with the damage and insert one cut from the extra vinyl.

“Scrape away any old adhesive from the subfloor and then make sure you use the adhesive recommended by the floor’s manufacturers,” Spencer said. “What may work for one floor won’t work as well for another.”

Spread the adhesive on the patch, press it into place, then clean off the excess that oozes out. Place some heavy books on top of the patch overnight to make sure it’s in good contact with the subfloor as it dries.

That Sinking Feeling

If your kitchen sink is made of pressed steel with a thin enamel coating, accept that you’ll get cracking and chipping over time. After cleaning the damaged area and scraping away the rust, use a porcelain patch kit, available at most hardware stores and home centers.

Generally a filler is used to build the area back up, then a paint to make it match the rest of the sink.

Driveway Digs

Concrete gouges and holes can be patched relatively easily, although making the patch match the color of the rest of the driveway is generally not possible. Color varies depending on the mix used; a patch is almost always lighter than the adjacent concrete.

First, clean out the hole and remove any loose concrete.

“Take a hammer and chisel and poke away at any jagged pieces that are attached but could fall away,” says contractor Greg David of Huntington Beach.

Mix the patch product with water according to the instructions and apply it with a trowel. For cracks no more than 1/8-inch thick, you can use a polyurethane caulk to fill the bottom and seal it before applying a coat of the patch material.

Asphalt patches are similarly applied. Once it has dried, blacktop paint can help it blend in with the rest of the driveway.