Great question; while some cleaners will spruce up your treasured rug in your home a true craftsman will know that to do the job correctly it needs to come to a facility dedicated to cleaning rugs.
The #1 enemy of rugs is what you typically cannot see; dirt and soil deep down in the rug backing (weft and warp weaves). Vacuuming will only remove a small portion of these contaminants. All the dirt, sand and gravel can cause abrasion that leads to premature wear of your rug. A professional cleaner dedicated to cleaning oriental rugs properly will use a machine specifically designed for dry soil removal. This cannot be done at your home. The cleaner who chooses to clean the rug in your home is doing what the industry considers a surface cleaning. This process just cleans the tips of the fibers.
Other factors that can lead to differences in pricing; does your cleaner include fringe detailing, spot treatment, immersion cleaning for pet urine, testing for colorfastness (is your rug a “bleeder?), hanging your rug to dry in a clean environment, performing quality inspections (sight and smell) to confirm the rug is clean and if the cleaner uses a finishing tool to make the fiber colors “pop” and gives the rug that warm, fluffy feel. Each cleaning step requires that the rug be moved to a different location – not an easy task for some of the larger rugs we have cleaned. These are just some of the differences in pricing, so be sure to ask your cleaner if all these steps are included in their price –especially if you want your rug cleaned in your home.
Most of us at Sincerely Yours own pets too, so we understand if your pet has peed on your rug and yes, we can help. The best method to remove the odor associated with pet urine is through a pre-treatment process and an immersion cleaning in our rug bath. Pet urine contains three components; 1) urea, which is the sticky, tacky component; 2) urochrome, which is the pigment or color element, and; 3) uric acid crystals and salts. It is these crystals and salts that cause the ammonia like odor that makes this the most difficult component to correct. These acidic crystals can also cause permanent dye damage, color loss and cause the fibers to rot. While we have been extremely successful in restoring most rugs, other factors do come into play, such as your pets diet, age, weight, health, frequency of urination or marking its territory to name a few. Animals, unfortunately, pee on rugs. We tend to overlook these little mishaps because of the unconditional love and companionship we get in return. So the next time your best friend has an accident on your favorite rug, give us a call – we’ll get your rug smelling clean again and get your buddy out of the doghouse!
I wish they were because that would make identifying and cleaning each rug much easier. Rugs are as varied as people are different. In its simplest terms a rug can either be machine-made or man-made and made with either synthetic or natural fibers (wool, silk, cotton, bast, leaf and fruit). Then we also have construction types (tufted, woven and bonded).
For those of you that want to dive a little further into the types of rugs out there, consider this:
- Specialty Rugs
- Animal Skins
- Braided rugs
- Flatweaves (Dhurries, Kilims, Cotton Chenille, Chinese Augusson and Soumak)
- Flokati rugs
- Hand-hooked
- Hand-tufted rugs from China or India
- Karastan®
- Kashmir Chainstich
- La Montage
- Navajo
- Needlepoint rugs from Portugal, China or Greece
- Rag rugs
- Spanish Wilton
- Sisal/Coir/Sea Grass and other plant based fiber rugs.
- Persian Village Rugs
- Hamadan
- Lillihan
- Malayer
- Senneh
- Persian City Rugs
- Ardabil/Meshkin
- Bijar
- Qum/Ghoum
- Heriz
- Isfahan
- Joshaghan
- Karaja
- Kashan
- Kerman
- Mahal
- Mashad
- Nain
- Sarouk
- Tabriz
- Tribal Rugs
- Bakhtiari
- Baluchi
- Turkoman
- Shiraz
- Afshar
- Gabbeh rugs
- Other countries producing Hand-Knotted Rugs
- Afganistan
- China (Peking, Tientsin)
- India
- Moroccan
- Pakistan (Mori weave, Pakistan Persian and Peshawar)
- Romania
- Spain
- Tibetian
- Turkey
What we have here is a case of “white knots”. Your rug is fine – what you are noticing is an area where the rug’s warp cords (cords that run the length of the rug) that have been spliced together while still on the loom. As the rug wears, the knots show through the pile of the rug as a small white knot.
First off you need to know that carpet moths and beetles feed on the keratin found in wool and other animal fibers. The stages of a moth are: eggs, larvae, pupa and moth. It is the larvae, not the adult insects, that cause the damage. Moths tend to live and breed in dark, undisturbed places and prefer to feed on soiled/stained rugs (does this mean I should have my rug cleaned?).
Carpet beetles on the other hand are more active than moths. They tend to move from room to room and are active in lighted areas.
Some indicators to look for are small, flying moths, loose pile yarns on top of the rug, small depressions on the surface or missing knots.
Special care must be taken if you are planning on storing your rug for an extended period of time.
