How We Clean Oriental Rugs

Oriental Rug Cleaning Is Not Like Normal Cleaning

There is a common misperception that oriental rug cleaning is about the
same as regular wall-to-wall residential carpet cleaning, and this can lead to a lot of confusion and cleaning related issues.

The carpet you see in the above photo can be cleaned much differently, in many regards, than oriental rugs.

There are similarities, but there are also MAJOR differences in both types of cleaning.

Let's take a good look at what REALLY GOOD oriental rug cleaning consist of.

1. An understanding of the fiber that is to be cleaned.
2. An understanding of how to properly clean this fiber without damaging it.
3. The ability to clean the fringe properly; if there is fringe.
4. The ability to thoroughly clean the carpet and get it dry without any shrinkage of the carpet.

Now, all of this is very much like regular wall-to-wall residential carpet cleaning, but there are two major differences.

1. Oriental rugs are made with natural fibers, usually a combination of cotton and wool. There are other fibers oriental rugs can be made with, such as silk, but predominantly most oriental rugs are made with wool fibers and cotton foundation and fringe.

2. The soil load in many oriental rugs can be huge, and this can lead to major issues.

Why is that?

Because wool fibers have a cuticle to them that traps and holds soil. This can make getting soil out of wool fiber a bit tricky at times.

Plus, a well-made oriental rug has a good density to the fibers, and once the soil is down near the backing it can be really difficult to remove this soil.

Photo From: http://www.carpetcolourrestorations.com.au/carpet-dye-bleeding/

Most residential wall-to-wall carpeting is made of synthetic fibers, mostly nylon. These synthetic fibers are much easier to clean. A carpet cleaner can be much more aggressive with cleaning solutions with synthetic fibers than with wool fibers.

There is very little reason for a carpet cleaner to worry about colors bleeding in synthetic fibers, but there is a lot of concern with color bleeding in oriental rugs. You can see from the photo above some fairly serious color bleeding.

Also, there is very little reason for any carpet cleaner to worry about synthetic carpets shrinking, but with oriental rugs this could be a big concern.

And finally, stain removal on synthetic carpets is much easier than stain removal on oriental rugs.

This, again, is because of the fiber. Synthetic fibers respond better to aggressive stain removal procedures, while aggressive stain removal procedures on wool, or other natural fibers, can wreak havoc.

So How Do We Clean Oriental Rugs?

Without sounding too arrogant - the right way!

Many times you will find carpet cleaning companies telling you they can clean oriental rugs in your home or maybe even out in your driveway. Do not fall for this b.s.!

Oriental rugs, if you want them cleaned the right way, should be cleaned off-site. This allows for much better cleaning (soil and stain removal) and offers the rug cleaner much more control over the oriental rugs during the drying process.

Let's Take A Look At How We Clean Oriental Rugs at Linton's Carpet Cleaning

1. We thoroughly test the carpet for fiber type, bleeding, and crocking.

What is bleeding? Bleeding is the migration of dyes to unwanted areas during the wet phase of cleaning.

What is crocking? Crocking is the movement of dyes while the carpet is dry. Rubbing can usually cause crocking.

If the fiber is properly tested, and especially properly tested for bleeding, then there is a good chance the  cleaner will be able to use the right cleaning agents and procedures to properly clean the oriental rug and clean
it safely.

2. Once we have tested the fiber we then proceed with as much dry soil removal as possible. All carpets, oriental rugs or wall-to-wall residential carpet, should be vacuumed as much as possible to remove as much dry
soil as possible before the wet cleaning process takes place.

At Linton's Carpet Cleaning we take the dry soil removal process very seriously and use a tool called the Rug Badger. Take a look at the above video to see the Rug Badger in action.

This tool was designed specifically for dry soil removal in oriental rugs. The amount of dry soil a Rug Badger can remove from an oriental rug is astounding at times.

There is no possible way for a regular vacuum cleaner to remove the amount of dry soil in an oriental rug that the Rug Badger removes.

3. Once we are satisfied that we have removed as much of the dry soil as possible we then proceed to the wet cleaning phase. And this is where we excel.

Cleaning a oriental carpet in your home does NOT allow for the type of thorough cleaning that can be accomplished off-site with a carpet cleaning company that actually cleans oriental rugs properly.

The ability, with special tools, to flood extract your rugs offers two major advantages.

A. The ability to get out very large soil loads.

B. The ability to thoroughly rinse urine from the carpet if urine is an issue.

C. The ability to properly clean the fringe, if there is fringe.

The cleaning of fringe is a bit of an art, and sometimes the proper cleaning of fringe can actually take hours to accomplish good results.

4. We control the drying. Another advantage to having your carpets cleaned off-site is that the cleaner can control the dry time and the entire drying process.

In some cases oriental rugs need to be hung and dried to help avoid shrinking. Oriental rugs, after cleaning, can be extremely heavy so special drying equipment is needed to hang the carpets.

Also, because cotton and wool are very absorbent, when oriental rugs are drying the humidity in a room can skyrocket. There are times when dehumdifiers are needed to remove the excess water to help speed up the drying process.

And in almost all cases air movers are used to expedite dry times.

As you can see, cleaning your oriental rugs, in your home or driveway, is just not going to work very well compared to having them properly cleaned off-site.

Again, if you value your oriental rugs have them cleaned the right way!

And cleaning them the right way does not mean cleaning them in your home or on your driveway.

At Linton's Carpet Cleaning we offer high-end residential, commercial, and oriental rug cleaning.

 We clean any carpet you have us clean the RIGHT WAY. We never play pricing games and we offer excellent customer service.