To maintain the beauty of your rug, it should be vacuumed weekly, being careful not to damage the fringe. Rotating it semi-annually will aid in evening the wear. Every 2-3 years, depending on foot traffic, you should have your “Oriental” area rug professionally cleaned by hand – not by impersonal batch washing machines.
Wool rugs are woven to last hundreds of years. However, you put a rug in the wrong conditions, with the wrong bugs, and you can lose that rug in under a year. In homes, with rugs in use, this bug damage will be found under large furniture. Moths and carpet beetles love to eat under a sofa that is never moved to vacuum under it. And damage will be found underneath the rug on the back side.
The best protection though against bugs causing harm to rugs is a regular vacuuming and washing routine. Moreover, the more often you vacuum, the longer you can stretch in between needed washings. Moths and bugs love wool rugs with urine contamination, and they will eat at these areas first. Make sure to clean up any spills that occur on your beautiful textile and fiber protection will make clean-up easier.
Hand-knotted wool and silk area rugs are made with love and skill and are designed to last many generations if properly maintained. Frequently area rugs are brought to our shop with visible signs of damage or wear that was easily preventable. This video will provide helpful tips to make sure your area rug remains beautiful and lasts for generations to come.
Vacuuming your rug is the very best thing you can do to protect the longevity of your favorite rugs and to help keep your indoor air quality clean (wool rugs act as an excellent air filter). So let’s talk about rugs and vacuums. This video is the best way to explain damage caused by dust/dirt/grit in relation to rugs.
Wool and silk area rugs should be cleaned by experienced rug cleaning professionals at a dedicated rug cleaning plant. Due to the thoroughly exhaustive steps a wool or silk area rug must go through to be considered clean, a carpet cleaner merely slinging a wand over the surface of the rug will only deliver “surface clean” results. Improper cleaning, using carpet cleaning solution and truck mounted equipment at the hands of uneducated technicians can cause disastrous results to your cherished textile.
Wool area rugs with a material on the back of them are called “Tufted” rugs. These area rugs are held together by glue instead of hand-woven knots, and as such, have cleaning considerations that are different from their hand-woven counterparts.
