Carpet Cleaners and Oriental Rugs Don’t Get Along

Improper Rug Cleaning Will Cause Dye’s To Run

If your home features both area rugs, such as Persian or Oriental rugs, and regular carpet as floor coverings, you should NEVER clean your area rugs like you would your carpet.

Here’s why: The wall-to-wall carpet in your home is typically manufactured on a machine that uses synthetic material to produce 15 feet of carpet per minute. The carpet’s primary components are a face fiber held in place with latex adhesive and a plastic backing material.

A quality carpet cleaning company is experienced in cleaning carpets made from nylon, polyester or other plastic-based fibers, and traditional steam cleaning methods are adequate for these types of materials. On the other hand, using cleaning methods designed for nylon on natural fiber area rugs such as wool and silk will have a devastating effect and could ruin them.

Giving area rugs special treatment

Most area rugs, particularly hand-knotted rugs, are made entirely by hand from all-natural materials. It can take as little as a month to make or up to two years or longer to produce a single handmade rug such as a Persian or Oriental rug.

The majority of “Oriental” rugs are made with wool, a highly complex animal fiber. If you looked at it under a microscope, you can see that wool fibers have scales and hundreds of small crevices that can trap soil.

This means that to get a hand-knotted Oriental rug 100-percent clean, it must be cleaned all the way through, not just on the surface, which is how steam cleaning carpet is performed.

Area rugs can also be made of many other natural fibers such as silk, cotton, or jute, which means cleaning an area rug is a custom job every time. Proper rug cleaning cannot be performed by simply running a steam cleaner over the front and back. At best, that type of cleaning would be cosmetic and only temporary; at worst, it could cause irreversible damage.

Hiring A Professional Rug Cleaner

Your area rugs are a one-of-a-kind investment, so don’t trust their cleaning and care to just anyone. At Oriental Rug Salon we’ve seen our fair share of antique wool and silk area rugs ruined by carpet cleaners.

Do your homework and look for a cleaner with the education, experience, and expertise to care for your rugs safely and effectively.

A wool or silk area rug should NEVER be cleaned in the home unless you’re just looking for a “surface cleaning” and are willing to take a chance that your cherished rug will not be ruined by an inexperienced technician.

To select a rug cleaner, do an internet search for “Oriental rug cleaners” or “wool area rug cleaners” and look at their level of experience. Find out if they own a rug cleaning plant or if your area rug is going to be cleaned in a driveway. Look at their certifications, time in business, and verified customer reviews such as those on Angie’s List or the Better Business Bureau.

Oriental Rug Salon is a full-service area rug cleaning and repair facility serving clients throughout SW Florida, and in fact, the world. We are a Certified Partner with the prestigious Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) and the International Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI). We are also A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau and a five-year-in-a-row-winner of the coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award.

Don’t trust your Oriental, wool or silk area rugs to just anybody. Visit Oriental Rug Salon online at www.OrientalRugSalon.com or give us a call anytime at 239-424-8171 – Lee and Collier County or 941-893-1655 in Charlotte County including Sarasota, Punta Gorda, and Port Charlotte.

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Carpet Cleaners and Oriental Rugs Don’t Get Along

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