If you’ve purchased a hand-knotted, quality Persian or Oriental rug, you very well may have visions of handing the rug down to your children and/or grandchildren, also hoping that they will pass it down to their grandchildren!
Fine rugs made of wool, wool, and silk are quite sturdy and should last for decades when cared for properly. But to truly ensure that your textile work of art provides beauty to the homes of your descendants for generations to come, you need to take proper care of it and proper care entails ensuring it’s cleaned properly.
First off you need to use your rug and have it out where it can be visually inspected periodically to gauge usage and maintenance needs for each of your rugs. Then a second ongoing step in maintaining your rugs is to properly clean it regularly. You can use a vacuum but don’t use the vacuum’s beater brush; use its suction tool only. (The beater brush can snag on errant threads and pull them. It also can make a true mess of a rug’s fringe by cutting them off and splitting the other border sides.
Proper cleaning can ensure that your rug stays as vibrant as this antique Persian Sultanabad rug.
If you don’t want to vacuum the rug, take a clean broom to it and sweep only in the direction of the pile. Regardless of whether you vacuum or sweep, cleaning the rug like this regularly (at least monthly) helps keep dust, dirt, and grime from settling into the rug’s weft and warp. If allowed to sink into the rug, dirt/dust particles speed up wear to the carpet because dirt and dust are comprised of microscopic sharp edges that can literally tear at the rug’s fibers. Worn, dirty, and extra dry rugs also encourage pests like moths and mildew to make their home in your rug.
Additional proper care of your rug includes rotating it regularly to ensure that wear from walking upon it and/or furniture standing is as even as possible. You also should keep the rug out of direct sunlight as the sun’s rays also can wear down the rug’s fibers.
But perhaps the most critical component of properly caring for your rug is to have it cleaned professionally by a company that knows how to clean these valuable textiles on a maintained schedule every 4 to 5 years.
For example, when cleaning your rug, Persian Rug Cleaner of Dallas will:
- Thoroughly inspect your rug for issues, as well as for its fiber content so that we can know exactly how to clean the rug.
- Test the rug’s dyes to see if the colors will run. We have the know-how to take the right action before and during the wash to best stabilize colors.
- We dust the rug to make sure as much dust, dirt, and grime is removed.
- We wash your rug with flowing water, giving it a gentle bath with a gentle, non-chemical cleaner.
- We push the water out of the rug without rollers or wringers. Once we’ve removed as much water as possible, we let it air dry outside in the sun laying it on a clean, flat surface or during rain still flat but inside with industrial fans.
- Once the rug is dry, we dust it and groom it again, brush it and get it ready to return to you, with its colors clean, bright, and vibrant. We also offer color matching and repair if needed.
When you need your rug cleaned professionally and properly, call and get a quote by phone and have us pick up your rug in our service area or bring it to Persian Rug Cleaner of Dallas.
Contact us at 972-447-9600 for more information.
Alen Erfanian (Alen Erfanian) [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
