Oriental Rugs

**DavesCarpetCleaning** · 07-02-2009, 11:58 AM

I have been told that you have to be really careful when cleaning oriental rugs. Not wanting to get into detail I just have declined to clean them. Now I have a huge home with many rooms carpeted that has a oriental rug in the dinning room. I didn't want to lose the bid so I just went with it and thought I would come on here to get the info on how to clean it. Also need to know what to be careful of when cleaning this rug.

Thanks in advance

Dave

**DavesCarpetCleaning** · 07-03-2009, 08:42 AM

No one wants to touch this one?

**Brent** · 07-03-2009, 07:13 PM

Cleaning rugs is very easy, but it could cost you big if you screw up on them.

I would highly suggest you sub them out to a company that specializes in them.

If you clean it inhouse, you cant clean the fringes. Test for bleeding, use only a mild PH cleaner. The wool fiber has scales and can trap alot of soil. (you'd be suprised). So prevac the crap out of it. The inside of a wool fiber is very sponge like and can hold alot of water. (dry, dry, dry).

If I were you I would get some proper education on area rug cleaning (not BB suggestions) because you can make a ton of money cleaning rugs. You can make a ton of money in tile and grout too.

**LisaWagner** · 07-04-2009, 03:47 AM

Hi Dave - couple questions:

- what the face fiber?
- are the dyes colorfast?
- what is the construction of the rug? (woven or tufted?)

If you go over to www.therugchick.com you can see a video of dye testing if you don't know how to do that ... and also a post that has tufted rug photos if you don't know what that looks like either.

Final questions:

- what equipment do you have?
- do you clean upholstery?

It would be great to have a photo of the rug....

Lisa

**DavesCarpetCleaning** · 07-05-2009, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by LisaWagner

Hi Dave - couple questions:

- what the face fiber?
- are the dyes colorfast?
- what is the construction of the rug? (woven or tufted?)

If you go over to www.therugchick.com you can see a video of dye testing if you don't know how to do that ... and also a post that has tufted rug photos if you don't know what that looks like either.

Final questions:

- what equipment do you have?
- do you clean upholstery?

It would be great to have a photo of the rug....

Lisa

Lisa, not sure on your questions on the rug. I went and gave a bid for about 1500 sq ft of carpet and an large oriental rug laying under a large table in the dining room. I just noticed it was an oriental rug and the first chance I got I came here to ask how to clean it. I do clean ulphostery and I have two vans with truckmounts. The rug did not look dirty at all and looked to be in very good shape. Very beautiful rug.

Dave

**Scott W** · 07-10-2009, 01:59 PM

Dave - "Oriental rug" is a very broad category. It includes rugs constructed by several methods and many different fibers. Then there are different dye systems. There can be tens of thousands of different Oriental rugs and hundreds of possibel ways to clean them.

You don't want to damage a rug by colors bleeding or fading, removing a topical treatment such as a tea wash, causing the rug to shrink, or the edges to curl, reveal insect damage and bare spots or any of a dozen other ways the cleaning could go wrong.

There simply is not one way to clean all Oreintal rugs sucessfully. You need to learn to identify things about the rusgs and do some testing first before proceeding.

My first thought is finding a rug cleaning plant in your area who will work with you. You bring the rug in, they clean it and charge you a reduced price. You retunr the rug and collect full price.

The best methods for cleaning Oriental rug involve taking them to a shop or plant or back to your garage or driveway.

If you do decide to clean the rug at the client's site, Vacuum thoroughly - perhaps flipping it over and vacuum the back and then revacuum the front, use a mild prepsray (Zone Perfect is safe for MOST Oreintal rugs), rinse throughly so as to leave no residue, get it dry rapidly. This fianl step may require air movers, extra dry passes and more.

If they rug remians placed on top of carpet that is also being cleaned, the carpet below has no way to dry and the rug will not dry easily either.

**LisaWagner** · 07-10-2009, 02:48 PM

I have to agree with Scott on subcontacting the work to a rug plant. If it's large it MAY be pricey - and there are MANY problem rugs, which when you know what to look for, you can keep yourself out of trouble.

FIBER - fiber test ... you need to know if it's natural or synthetic, that will guide your cleaning process. If it's woven (you can see the design of the rug on the BACK exactly like the front) it's natural ... just FYI. Tufted has latex mesh on the back or a BACKING material. Can be natural or synthetic.

Construction is important because it can help determine whether it's best to surface clean it, or give it a bath (which is what we do to 98% of rugs coming in our plant).

But the kicker is DYES. The steps Scott lists above are generally safe for a COLORFAST rug. If you have one of the newer products that is either Tea-washed (added dye to the original rug to make it look "older"), over-dyed with ink, or perhaps a rug that has been surface cleaned with a highly ALKALINE cleaning solution and the residue has dissolved the original acid dye to wool bond - you will have problems.

How do you know - you need to test the dyes. I use a hot water test, even though we clean with cold water, because I want to know if there is ANY chance the rug will bleed during the bath (high temperature makes the dyes migrate quicker - which is why you can use a wool safe solution but way too much heat and end up bleeding a rug).

If you go to www.therugchick.com blog, there is video there on doing a simple dye test.

The other test of course is taking a DRY towel and seeing if the rug crocks. If it does - you can't clean it without problems. (Many of those problem situations I just mentioned show crocking on a dry towel).

And if any of these problems happen IN THE HOME you dramatically lessen your opportunity to fix it. Once they see it damaged, it is damaged. This is yet another reason, even if you surface clean rugs and COULD do them at the home, you shouldn't. Besides, you can't clean the fringe in the home. Well you could, but it's a real pain and you risk solution damage to the flooring.

Post a photo ... then we can tell you if this rug is dangerous....

Lisa

**Carpet Cleaning 911** · 07-15-2009, 02:46 AM

Dave,
If you lack the basic knowledge to even be able to identify whether the rug is handmade or machine made then your asking for trouble. It would probably be wise to find a rug cleaning specialist in your area to subcontract with. You could save face by charging for pickup and delivery of the rug to the customer and cut a deal with the rug specialist for 20% of the job cleaning. My family specializes in loose rugs and trust me, most people that own orientals don't question the cleaning price. Lastly orientals are made to not look as dirty as they really are so don't use the outword apperance as a reference for pricing the cleaning.

**Rob Allen** · 03-09-2010, 04:32 PM

Rugs are not as difficult as some make them out to be. The secret is "identification" and 'testing". Once you have that down pat you are on your way.

**davenjai** · 03-10-2010, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Rob Allen

Rugs are not as difficult as some make them out to be. The secret is "identification" and 'testing". Once you have that down pat you are on your way.

Agreed, that is until you come behind the guy who cleaned it at 240* and 900psi. Because it cleans faster! Aaagghhh!

**LisaWagner** · 03-14-2010, 08:57 PM

Knowing if the rug is handmade or machine made does not affect your cleaning it. It's not relevant HOW it was made - by hand or by machine.

What does matter is the fiber type, the dye strength, the construction type (it is woven - by hand or by machine doesn't matter - or it is TUFTED with latex on the backing), and pre-existing conditions.

Identification of these first 3, and testing, are important ... but pre-existing conditions are what will bury you if you are not skilled in pre-inspection. Past damage can create current problems.

It is the best idea to subcontract ... build your own working knowledge... and then get into it only if you really DIG rugs. If you don't, why bother? You can add a $1 or more a square foot to handle and subcontract it, and that's good money for not having to learn much about rugs. Just find a good company.

Lisa

**Richard Baldwin** · 03-14-2010, 10:11 PM

Ok, just telling you what I would do, and this is only one cleaner's approach and probably not what Lisa, Scott or the others would do.

I would just "top clean" this particular rug the same way as you clean the carpets, just being more careful not to get it too wet.
Using a hand bonnet after prespraying is nice on these rugs if you want to give it a special touch before extracting.

Vac well, then Use your regular prespray, but dont use the "strong" stuff. Just the regular stuff.
Double vac, triple if its a porty. You dont want to get it too wet with a top cleaning.

use an acid rinse in your solution. If you dont have acid rinse, or you are using a porty, then mist the rug with an acetic or citric acid solution after you are done.
This will help prevent any bleeding while it dries.

Set up the best drying conditions you can. See if the customer has any fans and open the window. Better yet, take the rug to your shop and clean and dry it at home.

Again, just my opinion, but everyone gets so paranoid over Oriental rugs. So here's a few things to keep
in mind:

-They have been making these type of rugs for thousands of years.

-They used to drop these rugs in the river and stomp on them to clean them.

-These rugs can last over 100 years. They are far more durable than a synthetic.

**Kenny Wright** · 03-15-2010, 05:27 PM

With all due respect to everyone else's opinions, I will never clean another oriental rug without proper training and facilities that include a wash pit. Knowing how much they can cost and that the color can run even if you do everything correctly, why play Russian Roulette with your insurance premiums? I have a good arrangement with a company that does clean oriental rugs.

**LisaWagner** · 03-22-2010, 01:47 AM

If you clean in the home, and it's a wool rug, in particular a heavily chemically-washed (after the weaving process, and before the sale) rug from China in a well-lit room - then you can create problems doing that "quick surface clean." Fading. If you are too alkaline in the solution, yellowing.

Plus the fact that you are not actually thoroughly CLEANING the rug. Without a good dusting process, you will create mud in the foundation of the rug - a blend of the solution, the moisture, and the dirt/grit - that over time can lead to a graying of the rug, as well as structural problems (in the worst case, dry rot).

Bonnet cleaning can create distortion that can result in shading (looks like discoloration) in the rug, as well as pile breakage if it happens to be a weak fiber like rayon.

"Oriental" does not tell us what the FIBER is. It also does not tell us if the rug is COLORFAST.

It could be an ORIENTAL design, but a nylon area rug. Which could be steam cleaned just fine.

The point is ... you need to know what you are working on for anyone to give you cleaning advice that is actually valuable to you.

Lisa