When it comes to cleaning your fine Persian or Oriental rug, we don’t recommend that you clean it yourself.
Sure, we have a vested interest in recommending that you take your woven work of art to a professional rug cleaning service, but because these rugs are so valuable – and more than likely cost you a not inconsiderable sum – like anything of value, you want to make sure it’s given the best of care.
Professional rug cleaners such as Persian Rug Cleaner of Dallas have the expertise to ensure your rug is cleaned properly and safely – and returned to you in better (cleaner) shape than when you brought it in.
An Oriental rug this beautiful (displayed by a rug dealer in India) should be professionally cleaned, especially if it is an antique rug.
This – having your rug cleaned by a professional – is even more important if your rug is an antique.
Read below for how a professional cleaner will wash your antique rug:
- You should have your antique rug cleaned – at the bare minimum – every four to five years. If it’s displayed on the floor in a high-traffic area, you should have it cleaned every two to three years and possibly more often, depending on the amount of traffic.
- Before starting the cleaning process, the professional will inspect your antique rug for different issues such as fading from the sun, moth damage, mildew, unraveling, the condition of the fringe (if any), tears/rips, and leftover cleaning residues from previous cleanings, including spots and stains.
- The cleaner also will make sure to ascertain that the rug truly is made of wool, silk, wool and silk, cotton, or a mix – many synthetics can look and feel like these natural fibers and, particularly if the rug is antique, you may believe it’s a wool rug – after all, Grandpa said it was – but the rug cleaner, however, will want to make sure.
- The cleaner also will test a small part of the rug to make sure the old dyes won’t bleed. If the rug has more than 10 colors in it, a good rug cleaner will perform the test more than 10 times, for each color.
- Believe it or not, your professional rug cleaner may first tumble your antique rug in a large machine similar to a clothes dryer This helps remove dust and dirt that may have dug down into your rug’s pile. This grit can be abrasive to the rug’s wool fibers and the tumbling process works well for less-sturdy carpets, such as antique rugs: it places less strain on the rug than if it were submerged in water.
- Once the dust has been removed, the cleaner will clean your antique Persian rug with a gentle bath, using flowing/running water. Shampoo used will be a PH-balanced solution chosen specifically for your rug’s fabric and colors.
- Once cleaned and thoroughly rinsed of soap, the cleaner will remove all liquid by hand (not by using rollers or ringers). Once all excess soap and water are gone, the professional cleaning service will hang the antique rug to dry, being very careful that the weight of the rug doesn’t stretch out its fibers.
If you have an antique Persian or Oriental rug, bring it Persian Rug Cleaner of Dallas. Contact us by calling 972-447-9600.
Image by Dainis Matisons from Mezares, Latvia, EU (India by Dainis Matisons Uploaded by Ekabhishek) [CC BY 2.0] (via Wikimedia Commons
