For thousands of years, the recommended method for cleaning natural fiber rugs is a full-immersion wet wash. Essentially, your rugs need a really good “bath” to remove the dirt, grit, bacteria, and other contaminants from the surface and within the base of the rug’s fibers. Wool, Silk and other Oriental rugs should NEVER be cleaned by a professional carpet cleaner in your home.
Rugs have been woven for thousands of years, and have been washed for thousands as well. Overseas you see both rugs and fabrics washed in rivers.
At Tru-Clean Surface Care we follow the New Zealand Wool Institutes guidelines for Oriental and wool rug cleaning and take the Old World washing ways and bring them up to date for both antique and contemporary rugs and textiles. Our in-house rug cleaning plant known throughout SW Florida as Oriental Rug Salon cleans thousands of rugs each year and the typical turn-around time to clean and return a client’s valued rug is approximately 10 days.
Rugs, properly cared for, will outlive us many times over. We are a part of its life more than it being a part of ours. So our cleaning steps always take that into account – the welfare of the rug, and the cleanliness of it when returned to an owner’s home.
The following are our steps taken with every rug that comes through our doors to ensure the right care for each textile and to give you the most thorough cleaning process possible, while also providing the safest process for the rug itself.
Pre-Wash Inspection– Each rug is inspected for any pre-existing conditions. Many times, soil covers up dye lot variations (abrash), fiber staining, prior dye bleeding, worn areas or white knots that become “uncovered” after the wash.
Rug Dusting – Once the pre-wash inspection is complete the first step is dusting. Wool fibers under the microscope look like fish scales, with lots of little pockets to hide dirt, grit, and soil and even the most powerful vacuum cleaners in the world can’t remove all of these contaminates.
A wool rug can hold POUNDS of soil in its fibers before it begins to look dirty. So when it begins looking bad, you know it’s well past the time to have it cleaned. This is not just simple “dirt” but germs, bacteria, and other contaminants brought in by feet, shoes, and paws.
Flooding a rug with pounds of fine grit and dirt in the foundation creates mud. This is why a rug needs to be dusted before it gets wet.
Unlike vacuuming a rug where contaminants are trapped in the scales of the wool, we use a specialized “dusting machine” capable of emitting thousands of vibrations per second thereby dislodging contaminants and dirt. Basically we’re removing all of the soils before introducing the rug to the next step of the cleaning process.
Full Immersion Wet Wash – The dyes of your rug are tested for colorfastness. If the dyes are not colorfast, then the rug is bathed first in a stabilizer to stabilize the dyes during the wash process. The rug is then washed using a specialized rug shampoo and cool water. Just like you would with your wool or cotton sweater, you avoid hot water, harsh detergents, and high heat.
Dry Flat – All of our rugs are laid out flat to dry. Hanging textiles up when wet can lead to too much strain on the foundation of the rugs. Air movers are used to help facilitate drying, and dehumidifiers help control the drying environment. Once the rug has dried (usually takes two days) it is groomed and conditioned and then prepared for customer delivery.
Tru-Clean Surface Care is a family-owned environmentally-responsible carpet cleaning company and all of our technicians are certified by the world’s most respected certification body for textile professionals. Our Oriental and wool rug cleaning professional cleans all rugs by hand to ensure the deepest clean possible.
