Duane,
Can you direct me to your post on DIY cleaning of hand knotted Persian/Pakistani wool rugs
Thank you
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Duane,
Can you direct me to your post on DIY cleaning of hand knotted Persian/Pakistani wool rugs
Thank you
Easy. Pick a nice sunny day, not too humid, with no rain forecast. Take the rug outside and if its small, just put it on the driveway. If its large (8' x 10 or bigger) then place it across some wooden pallets - using enough to make sure its well supported. Soak it with water, get it fully wet. Then get some liquid Tide and a soft scrub brush and go at it, giving it a good lather. Then rinse it well. Very well. if a small rug, pick it up and drape over a banister to dry. if a large rug, that's why you have it on the pallets so air can come underneath it because when its waterlogged after a wash you won't be able to move it until its dry. This is how the pros do it.
I always find it amusing that people in first world countries think it can be as simple as that. Keep in mind where these rugs are made, they usually take them down to the local river and toss them in to wash them.
Thanks Duane
One of the easy and best way to clean your rugs is just sprinkle baking soda on the entire rug and then just use a vacuum cleaner on it.
I think rug and carpet cleaning should be done by the professional. They are experts in the cleaning process. They do it very skillfully.
Ever watch how they wash the rugs in the Middle East? They take them down to the river after they are done making them....and dunk them in. LOL. Very skillful.Quote:
Originally Posted by isaacsam
I've heard about the baking soda trick but honestly I prefer paying a professional and skip all the fuzz!
Today I washed four rugs out of my own home. The two large 9' x 13' rugs are antiques from the late 1800's. The two smaller ones are reproductions from Woven Legends. It was hot and sunny, and it's simply a matter of water-soaking the rugs, mixing up some liquid Woolite (my preference) and getting a soft scrub brush to clean with. After that, hands and knees and scrub. Then lots and lots of water to rinse. Let dry and you are good to go.
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Where did I learn how to do this? From rugmakers in Turkey, this is how they do it. It's the best way, too. Baking soda doesn't clean anything, that's just adding product into the rug. Some people say pressure washer - I disagree, too strong and that will probably damage the rug. I have a Rug Doctor carpet machine I use in the store, not using those on these fine rugs either, it's too harsh with a beater bar and I'm not convinced it gets all the soap out. As for sending them out, how do you know they will get washed properly? Some rug cleaner companies take the load for the day from all their customers and vat wash them. Stick them all in a giant washer together. The problem with that is good rugs are aniline-dyed. You put them in a vat with chromium dyed rugs (such as a Karistan brand) and the chromium dyes will leach and contaminate your good rugs. They will lose their color brightness and have a bit of a gray cast to them, and are effectively ruined. If you do use a commercial rug cleaner and you have valuable rugs, insist on looking at their operation and seeing if they do them one at a time and hand-scrub.
Those two large antique rugs are beautiful! The colors are stunning. How did you acquire those?
My mother was a big antique rug collector and bought those from Peter Pap years ago, he's considered one of the best around in vintage rugs and is still in business. She has owned them about 25 years.
https://www.peterpap.com/
When I moved her into Assisted Living two weeks ago, the rugs had to come out, and they were pretty dirty. But not now, freshly cleaned! Quite honestly, I may sell them - have to get them appraised though to see what the current market value is on them. I believe she paid around $ 15,000 for each back in the early 1990's. My home is full of rugs already, I really have no spot for them unless I take out some of my existing ones.
P.S. My yard is browned out as I have killed it off to re-send the entire yard in the next couple weeks. Looks like I live in Afghanistan in that photo.
I wondered about that, I thought you just had some really big mulch landscaping. :D
I always send my rugs out to a professional company. They do it pretty much the same way except first they use this big beater machine to take all the dust out and then they wash it. They put it in a spinning tube like machine to extract out much of the water.
I have a huge 10 x 14 Ziegler that is worth a lot of money and I would be too afraid to do it myself.
I'm not a fan of beater machines, they can cause wear to the fibers. What you have to be careful of is to insist that your rug be washed separately. Many "Professionals" put all the rugs they have into a giant washer, and the dyes bleed onto one another, because invariably a cheap rug or two is mixed in with the fine ones. Then your rug forever loses its bright colors.
You can NEVER hurt your rug washing it yourself. Liquid Tide or Woolite, a gentle scrub brush, and place on pallets so it can dry. Pick Spring and Fall days when its warm but not humid. Use lots and lots of water, it will take 24 to 36 hours to dry.
Hey, which company do you prefer? It's the first time I will send my hand-knotted rugs to cleaning. They're pretty old, I don't want them to be destroyed by unprofessional hands.Quote:
Originally Posted by LisaL