CLEANING, RESTORATION AND GENERAL CARE TIPS

by Jacqueline Ahwazian

With the right cleaning and restoration care your oriental rug will last for generations.

These are my suggestions:

  • Use an underlay, this will avoid slipping and protect it from wear, grit and dirt.
  • Vacuum lightly to stop grit and dirt penetrating into the pile.
  • Try to avoid vacuuming the fringes as they can get damaged quickly.
  • If your rug is very old or is an antique its better to lightly sweep it and avoid vacuuming.

TIPS ON REMOVING STAINS FROM YOUR HAND KNOTTED ORIENTAL RUG:

The KEY to removing stains is to act immediately.

  • Don’t rub! This can cause permanent damage to the rug, be patient and blot gently working from the outside in.
  • If there is a lot of liquid, remove it with a spoon as gently as possible.
  • Certain rugs you can use a cleaning product that will remove small stains easily.
  • Always make sure you dry the area as quickly as possible, as you will find quite often colour run occurs due to leaving the rug wet.
  • If it is possible, straight after removing the stain, put your rug in the sun. Alternatively you can dry it with a hairdryer.

If the stain is too big and you are not sure if the colours will run, take it to get cleaned professionally. The earlier the expert rug cleaners see the stain the easier it will be for them to remove it.

SPECIALIST ORIENTAL RUG CLEANING:

A high quality hand knotted Persian rug, vintage rug, old or antique rug, should be cleaned professionally every 4-5 years.

This will help remove dirt that penetrates deep into the pile and will bring the wool or silk back to its natural shine. As most Persian tribal rugs are woven with vegetable dyed wool, they will age well, maintain their vibrant colours and most importantly the washing process will preserve the natural oils in the fibre.

A real expert knows a lot about the correct cleaning procedure for each rug, they also have extensive knowledge of the areas where the rugs are made, the type of wool and dyes used. All this information is highly valuable.

Before they clean an oriental carpet or rug they will carefully examine and access the appropriate procedure. Dye stability tests are done and then a careful hand cleaning method will be used to clean dust, grit and minor stains.

RESTORATION / REPAIR OF ORIENTAL CARPETS AND RUGS:

Does your oriental rug need any repair or restoration?

To ensure the longevity of a vintage, old or antique rug, it’s important to restore and repair any damage straight away.

Fringe damage is quite straightforward to repair if caught early. What most of us don’t realise is the fringes are the foundation of the rug the “warp”. If they are left too long it is often not possible to repair them, instead more fringe is exposed by removing part of the pile. Having repairs made quickly can prevent further damage.

MOTHS LOVE WOOL!

To repair a moth damages rug the expert must find the right type of wool, colour and texture to match the existing rug. A real expert can do this so well, it is often hard to see the repair.

RUG SIDES

Rug Sides, which are often known as the selvage or binding of the rug, can often become loose. Long term this will damage the rug and if left too long it can become quite expensive to repair. However if it is repaired quickly it will look as good as new.

Before (left), After (Right):

before and after

WEAR OR LOW PILE

It’s often seen as a sign of natural aging of a rug. It takes years or a lot of heavy foot traffic to wear down the pile of a hand-knotted Persian rug. If you want to restore it, an expert can do this by finding the right wool and colours to carefully hand knot the worn out pile.

Always consider the value of the rug. Sometimes its just too expensive to repair and it would often cost the same or less to replace the rug.

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