If you have both regular carpeting and Oriental rugs in your home, they should not be cleaned in the same way. what most home owner don’t realize is the amount of dirt they have in the rug’s fibers when only a professional cleaning can take care .
What You Should Do
To take care of a rug in between professional cleanings, take small rugs outside and shake. Gently beat the back to remove dry dirt. This method is a much kinder process than cleaning with a vacuum having a rotating brush head. Older vacuums have a beater bar that is even worse. Aggressive vacuum cleaning breaks down the fibers in a rug. It increases the appearance of wear and shedding.
Sweeping with a natural bristle broom, after the dust has been removed is the best home care process. Using a broom adds the benefit of light agitation to the pile of the yarn. The lanolin in wool fibers is brought to the surface. Lanolin makes wool shiny and soft. It also provides natural stain resistance.
Sweeping larger rugs with a broom loosens pet hair and dry dirt. Brush all dirt onto the floor and use the vacuum’s bare floor attachment to tidy up. Use the bare floor attachment to vacuum the area around the rug. If you insist on vacuuming, the bare floor attachment provides the gentlest cleaning.
Sweeping also cleans and smoothes the fringe of your Oriental rug. A broom cannot suck up and break delicate cotton fibers. When pet hair causes the need to vacuum, start in the middle of the rug and vacuum toward the edges. Do not vacuum back and forth. The center-out technique prevents the vacuum from sucking up the fringe.
Professional Care
Care of fine rugs does include surface cleaning. However, not having a high-quality deep cleaning allows the charm and beauty of the rug to diminish below layers of dust and stains. Soiling happens so gradually; it often goes unnoticed. Regular vacuuming cannot prevent dust from working down into the fibers of the rug.
A professional cleaning service can provide the deep cleaning a handmade rug requires to keep it looking vibrant. The odor-lifting soak process cannot be replicated by amateurs. Removal of common blemishes such as liquid or food spills and pet stains is important. Deep cleaning is a two-part process. The rug is dusted then washed. To dust, the rug is inverted, and the back is vibrated to loosen the dry soil. The wet process begins when all the dry soil falls from the rug.
Proper cleaning methods differ and are dictated by the way a rug is made. Hand-knotted rugs can be restored to the nearly new condition by dusting and washing them. Even odor issues and pet accidents can be successfully dealt with in nearly all cases.
Tufted rugs provide unique cleaning challenges. An experienced carpet cleaner is aware of the vast differences in how cleaning affects the texture of yarns, pre-existing conditions, materials, construction, and after-market treatments. The rug identification avoids costly mistakes.
Seasoned professionals can identify a machine made rug from one that is hand-knotted, cotton from wool, and a myriad of possible cleaning problems each can present. The technician will offer advice on the best practices for repair and cleaning fine textiles.