My husband and I just moved into yet another rental. The carpet is decent; it's a little stained, but VERY worn in high traffic areas. We have tried everything from having them professionally cleaned to cleaning each inch with a toothbrush (a trick my local flooring salesman gave to make the carpet fibers separate and puff back up). We live in a college town where rent is very high and are so sick of being embarrassed of our carpets. Any suggestions on how to fix this or cover it up?It's a medium pile, standard beige. We HATE area rugs because our furniture makes them wrinkle up (but I'm also very attached to my furniture so I'm not getting rid of that) and I really want a nice smooth look. Even the huge 8x10 area rugs won't stay nice and flat. I looked into carpet tiles, but you can't install those over carpet and my landlord has refused to change it or let me change it. I'm really at the end of my rope here....I just want a nice, clean apartment that I can be proud to show off.
There are many solutions you can come up with and you are having hard time to clean it then why dont you buy a new one than suffering for an old rug, i am sure you can find cheap one so you will not be embarassed by your visitors.
Area rugs are your ONLY choice. I am a landlord and in the few carpeted units I have (most of mine have ceramic tile floors), I also will not let tenants mess with the carpets...if they do, I'll take it out of their deposit when they move out. Your furniture is not the cause of your carpets scrunching up, YOU are. When you walk or move around, the carpet beneath is moved and because the top carpet is not anchored to it, it shifts around. Try a small area rug in a high traffic area...get some velcro strips, the hook side, and using some fabric glue, glue the strips to the back of the area rug...make sure you put a big patch in the middle. Now put the rug down so that the velcro hooks grab the carpet beneath. Now, let it stay there for a few days and see if there is any scrunching...if there is, add some more velcro to the underside of the rug OPPOSITE the scrunch, because the carpet is moving from that direction. If you can make this work on a small rug, you should be able to make it work on larger ones. I have used it in rentals to fix a mat to the carpet just inside the door to minimize soil.. ed fine.
