How to replace the backing on a tufted wool rug

Could there be a more pain in the butt rug to maintenance than a tufted wool rug? Unfortunately these rugs are only becoming more and more popular. If you’re looking to better service your clients, and make more money, you could offer backing replacement service.

What is a tufted wool rug?

Hand-tufted rugs are made by shooting wool yarns through a canvas with a tufting gun. When done, a second canvas backing is glued to the back of the rug, stabilizing the wool yarns. You can tell it’s a tufted rug by looking at the back side of the rug. If you can see a burlap-type fabric, then it’s a tufted wool rug. The burlap fabrics come in a variety of colors. Most of ivory, but they can come in black, grey, navy, and others.

See how a tufted rug is made

Over time, these backings can become loose and start to separate from the wool. This can happen for a variety of reasons: water saturation, pet urine, age, low quality adhesives. When the glue breaks down, a powdery substance will start to accumulate underneath the rug. A great add-on sale is replacing these backings. Replacing it can improve the look and add better structural stability.

Tufted wool rug

Step 1. Remove the backing

For this article, we’ll use a water-damaged rug as an example. When we first received the rug, most of the backing was already loose in many areas, so peeling it off was pretty simple. It did have a border, as many tufted rugs do. For the time being we left the border on, but removed all other backing.

Using fabric scissors, we snipped the tiny bit of thread securing the border down around the entire perimeter. **Note** There are some borders on tufted rugs that are simply glued on and not actually part of the construction of the rug. It just so happens that the border on this rug is actually leftover canvas that all the wool yarns are gunned to.

Once the border was no longer secured to the backing, we simply pulled the fabric off. Although there were many areas already loose, some areas were glued down quite well and it took two of us to get it all off as one pulled the fabric and the other held on to the rug. We did this slowly so that we would not damage or stretch the rug. Once the backing was completely removed, we dusted the rug with a rug badger and thoroughly vacuumed it to remove any loose debris, glue or other contaminants. **Note** If the rug backing does not come off easily, let it soak in water (preferably hot water) for a couple hours; this should help loosen the backing from the adhesive. If you pull too hard, and the backing is strongly secured to the wool, theres a chance you can pull wool fibers out. So be careful and go slow!

If you pull too hard, and the backing is still strongly secured to the wool, there’s a chance you can pull wool fivers out. So be careful and go slow!

2. Get it cleaned and sanitized

At Kansas City Rug Cleaning we wash most rugs on a concrete floor. Rugs that have pet urine, mold or mildew, will be soaked in a sanitation “bath” for 1-2 hours.

If the backing had became loose because of a flood, we would recommend soaking the rug in a tub with Decon 30.

If this rug was saturated with urine, we would soak it in either TCU made by Bridgepoint or UPT made by Chem Max. You can also use dichlor, which is a chlorine compound used to purify swimming pools. Studies by the WoolSafe Organization have shown that dichlor is safe for wool as long as the correct amount is used, and the correct amount of time soaking is not exceeded.

After soaking it in a decontamination bath, we proceed with our normal washing: wash, scrub, centrifuge, dry.

Tip: we’ve found soaking the rug can actually help loosen the backing even more making it easier to remove.

3. Glue the backing

At this point the rug should be cleaned, sanitized, dry and free of any soils. The items you’ll need are:

  1. Glue
  2. Trowel
  3. Backing & Border

Glue options

The recommended glue is Roberts 6700 indoor/outdoor carpet adhesive, found at Home Depot: Roberts 6700

You can also use Parabond M-267

Trowel

We prefer cheap plastic trowels found at Lowes, but any precision trowel with 1/16 or 3/32 notches will work. You’ll get a little messy, so wear some gloves and have towels handy!

Backing

There are a couple options we recommend for the backing. If you need the backing immediately, you can purchase a painters drop cloth from any hardware store. What we like about the painters drop cloth is that it’s relatively cheap and readily available. But unfortunately what we don’t like is the fact that the larger ones are made by sewing smaller drop cloth pieces together.

However, the best option is purchasing canvas from Chicago Canvas and Supply They come in upt to 12′ wide rolls, and no seam! They look much closer in appearance to the original backing of the rug and adhere fantastically. We ordered 20 yards of this material and it was at our shop within three days. And you can quickly and easily order online.

Border options

Some tufted rugs do not have a border on the back, but even if the rug did not originally have a border, we recommend installing one after you replace the backing. It just makes for a nicer and cleaner look when it’s all said and done.

Option 1:  Cotton “twill tape”. We really like the border options at Twill Tape. They have a variety of styles and colors. This twill tape can also be purchased on Amazon.

Option 2: Cotton border at Hobby Lobby. We couldn’t find a link online, but if you browse the fabric isle at Hobby Lobby, you should be able to find rolls of cotton border. We don’t love their limited options, but if you’re in a pinch, they should probably have something.

To secure the border we prefer to use a hot glue gun. But you can also use Fabric Fusion found at Hobby Lobby.

4. Installing the border

The border, also called binding, is the fabric glued around the perimeter of the rug. It’s typically about 2″ width and many, but not all, tufted rugs will have this. We’ve found it easier to complete this project when there is a border because it is very difficult to get the backing lined up nicely on the edge of the rug, but a border is much easier to line up and will overlap the backing. So even if the rug you are working on did not originally have a border, ask your client if they are OK with having a border, as it will make your job easier.

Border options

Option 1:  Cotton “twill tape”. We really like the border options at Twill Tape. They have a variety of styles and colors. This twill tape can also be purchased on Amazon.

Option 2: Cotton border at Hobby Lobby. We couldn’t find a link online, but if you browse the fabric isle at Hobby Lobby, you should be able to find rolls of cotton border. We don’t love their limited options, but if you’re in a pinch, they should probably have something.

To secure the border we prefer to use a hot glue gun. But you can also use Fabric Fusion found at Hobby Lobby.

Once the glue on the new backing is completely dry, go ahead and trim the excess canvas backing along the edges. Don’t cut too much off as to where your border will not overlap the canvas backing. Lay out your border and begin gluing it down using your choise of either the hot glue gun or fabric glue. When you get to a corner, let the borders overlap, but cut one of them at a 45-degree angle to make it more visually appealing. Or you can just overlap them and then glue it. Once complete, let the rug stay flat and completely dry for at least 2 days, and then you’re done!

installing border on rug backing

Costs to replace the backing

Generally we charge anywhere from $1.50 to $3 per sq ft, it just depends on the size of the rug. If it’s a small rug we’ll charge more, a larger rug maybe less.

Time invested

For a 5×8 it took us about 10 minutes to remove the backing, 30 minutes to apply glue and set the new canvas backing, and about 20 minutes to set the border.

Total time replacing backing: 60 minutes

Material 1 gallon of 6700 adhesive – $13

5×8 canvas backing – $11

Hot glue sticks – $9

Plastic trowel – $2

Border –- $10 Total: $45

Check out our video to see in person a backing we replaced.