Depending on where the carpet damage is and what kind it is, the best repair method is as follows:

You will need:

• A closet or similar location with the same carpet
• A sharp utility knife
• Paper for making a template
• Carpet seaming tape, available at any home improvement store
• An iron if the tape is heat sensitive; if it is tacky tape, you don't need the iron
• A carpet swatch that looks nearly like the damaged carpet, available for a dollar or two at any carpet store and some home improvement stores

1. Clean the carpet beforehand if possible. This helps match the carpet fibers and makes worn fibers stand up, which is better for seaming repair.

2. Find an area with pristine carpet that matches the damaged carpet; usually this will be in a corner of a closet. If the carpet has a pattern, try to match the pattern to the main carpet.

3. Make a template out of paper that is slightly bigger than the hole.

4. Cut out the damaged section using your template. If it is shag carpet, pull the long fibers away from the knife so you leave the ends intact and get a clean edge.

5. In the closet corner, cut around the template with a sharp utility knife and extract the carpet from the closet.

6. Using the same template (or the closet chunk if the paper is getting tired) cut the same size piece out of the similar carpet swatch you acquired.

7. Take the seaming tape and lay it half under the hole in the main carpet, half showing out from the hole. Press into place or iron on the carpet side only (yes, I've gotten tape stuck on an iron when I goofed) to hold that half in place. Repeat for the hole you just made in the closet.

8. Put the closet chunk into the main carpet hole, carefully positioning it, butting it hard against the edges of the hole. Press into place. Fluff fibers. Repeat for the closet chunk.

9. It should be seamless and nearly invisible. If there is a "line" due to fiber removal, go back to the closet, cut some fibers out (pull at the edge; that's usually where you'll find ones that are already loose) and glue them into the "lines" around the seam. Fluff again.

You can use almost any glue if you're just trying to pass an inspection. Water-soluble glues will come up if you clean your carpets, however, so if it's your own carpet, I would use a super-glue type as long as you test it on the fibers to make sure it won't melt (some nylon carpets do melt). This is nearly invisible and won't come up.

Trust me, no one ever looks closely at a closet corner; they just peek to see that there's no wall damage, and to look for obvious things. If the sample you acquired is even close, the repair there won't be seen. Closets are usually poorly lit. My ex-husband used to clean carpets for a living; this was their professional trick to hide carpet damage.