Oriental Rug Cleaning & Repair

1Oriental rug cleaning is the most advanced form of textile flooring and extreme care needs to be taken when cleaning these types of rugs.

The processes used in Oriental rug cleaning are much more extensive than that of carpet cleaning. I will explain my procedures:

My first step in Oriental rug care is the pre inspection to determine the fiber type, condition, soiling, age, style of construction, and also origin, my findings in this pre inspection will determine my cleaning procedures. (The construction of many rugs are too sensitive to handle a full submersion cleaning) I will then test the dyes for their stability, many rugs can be bleeders and these rugs need to be treated with a dye stabilizer before any cleaning products can be applied to the rug.

Now that the rug has been thoroughly inspected and the dyes have been identified, now the actual cleaning process will begin. The next step in Oriental rug care is a thorough pre vacuuming, this is done going in the widthwise direction on both sides of the Oriental rug using an approved, woolsafe vacuum. Now that the vacuuming is done I now go on to the dusting process to remove the remaining dry particulate soils that vacuuming can’t possibly remove. The rug is turned upside down and the rug is vibrated to remove the remaining soils. For heavily soiled rugs the vacuuming and dusting processes may need to be repeated a few time before all the dry particulates have been removed.

Now that the dusting process is completed I will now stabilize the dyes by applying a dye stabilizer to the rug and allowing adequate dwell time to stabilize the dyes. After adequate dwell time I will thoroughly rinse the rug to remove the dye stabilizer, I will continue the rinsing until the water becomes clear. Now spraying a pH 8.5 woolSafe cleaner to the rug and applying gentle agitation to suspend imbedded soils, I will then use a woolSafe rinse to extract out and remove the preconditioner and the suspended soils. The rug is then dried and thoroughly inspected for any remaining spots. After the rug is completely dry I will start the fringe cleaning process. This is done by hand using a cotton fringe cleaning product and taking great care to not have this product come into contact with the wool fiber. After brushing the fringe cleaning solution onto the fringe I will rinse it out with the appropriate neutralizer. The fringe is the dried, the rug is inspected a third time and is now ready for pickup or delivery.