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I recently had new carpet installed and the installers just left the scraps in my garage. I have several that are of somewhat appreciable sizes, the smallest being 3'x5'.

I'm weighing the pros and cons of keeping it (storage space is a premium at my house), so I'm curious if it is worth keeping for partial replacement, say if a stain occurred I could cut out a square of the existing carpet and install this.

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Yes, a skilled flooring installer can patch in carpet to repair damage. It needs to be oriented with respect to the "grain" and pattern-matched.

Chances are you won't want to do that more than once or twice during the life of the carpet, since worn carpet tends to appear quite different from new carpet, diminishing the value of the repair. If you're a careful person you won't need to have repairs done often anyway, and if you're not you'll have too many stains to bother repairing any.

I'd only keep two or three of the largest scraps. Use the rest as utility rugs or recycle them.

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    Excellent -- I hadn't considered the wear on the rug as a factor, but it makes perfect sense. As soon as I read it, I thought about this youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_mX3lVLso (not my video, sorry for terrible shooting)
    – Sidney
    Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 15:16
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    The utility rug usage is a good idea. Carpet shops can cut a rectangle out of a piece of scrap and bind the edge. The cost is usually trivial. They can be used in locations like doorways, or on top of high traffic areas to reduce wear and tear on the installed carpet. Another potential use for a large piece: if you have a pull-out sofa bed or folding bed, the supporting springs for the mattress can stretch and the cross bars can become a problem. Putting a layer of carpet under the mattress can make it more comfortable, and you can usually leave it in place when you close it.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 16:03
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YES, keep scraps. I use a koolGlide seaming iron, like lots of other installers; it seams from top of the carpet and patches easy as if you poured in a new piece. Youll be kicking yourself at some point if you toss the extra.

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