When a customer trusts UCM Carpet Cleaning of DC with their rug, we take that trust seriously. Handmade Oriental Persian rugs are valuable investments and can last for decades when cared for properly. To clean a rug safely and completely, we need to know a little bit about it, especially since not every oriental rug is handmade.
Call us the rug detectives. Before we start cleaning your rug, we examine the pile for fiber type and look carefully at the rug's construction. It takes a little bit more time, but the effort is worth it to make sure we take the best care of your rug.
The majority of handmade rugs have wool pile, though some of them may be silk instead. Silk pile looks very different from wool, and more care should be taken with silk as it is more delicate.
A good rule of thumb is that if the pile of the rug is acrylic or any other fiber other than wool or silk, it isn't handmade.
The warp and weft of a rug can be a different material than the pile. When you see a 100% wool rug, it means that the pile is 100% wool, but the warp threads may be cotton, and the weft could even be a third fiber. For handmade carpets, the warps are the threads on the loom that make up the foundation of the rug, and the wefts are the thin woven rows holding a row of knots in place.
You might have heard rugs described as hand-knotted or hand-tufted. Really, hand-tufted rugs aren't made by hand, except that a hand holds the tufting tool. The tufting tool helps the rug maker quickly insert the pile into a pre-made foundation, and the pile is then later secured by a latex backing. So the best way to tell a hand-tufted rug from a hand-knotted rug is to look at the back.
Does the pattern on the back of the rug seem as detailed as the front? Then this is a hand-knotted rug, as the backs of the knots are visible on the back of the rug, duplicating the pattern of the rug's pile.
In a handmade rug, the fringes that you see are actually the ends of the warps of the rug, and are important to maintain so that your rug doesn't unravel. Machine made rugs may also have fringes, but they are fringes that were attached to the rug after the fact, to simulate the appearance of the natural warp threads.
Handmade rugs are real jewelry that cannot be saved from persistence and the unique skills necessary for their maintenance. In contrast, machine-made rugs cannot easily copy such artwork, and they are likely to be damaged by inappropriate cleaning techniques. As UCM Carpet Cleaning of DC, our team of seasoned experts has a deep understanding of what is required to get the rug cleaned properly using skills that have been fine-tuned over many years of experience in the industry. Attention to detail and admiration for these priceless art shows lead to an exacting procedure that ensures each fiber, knot, and dye is treated with great care, thus keeping the integrity and vivacity of the rug.
Although it would seem doubtful to do everything on your own, rugs made painstakingly need special care to be safe from any harm. Professional cleaners are trained to use the proper tools, environmentally friendly products, and techniques to make sure the carpet and its composition are fully cleaned with no damage.
The frequency with which the area is cleaned has to take into account various elements, such as the number of people using this area, the activity of pets, and the environmental conditions. In general, it would be advisable to initiate cleaning every 12 to 18 months to ensure that the rug remains clean and durable for many years.
Absolutely! Our team knows all the subtleties of different rug types like nothing else, ranging from Oriental and Persian classics to more durable Navajo and Southwest models. We adjust our cleaning routines to make certain that all of the distinctive features of a rug we clean are preserved.
Fastness to color and integrity of the pattern are the major factors in cleaning. The solution consists of pH-balanced, ecological solutions and gentle, low-moisture methods that keep the dye from spreading and the pattern from deforming.
No matter your rug type, UCM Carpet Cleaning of DC takes exquisite care of your rug. Call now to schedule your rug cleaning in our dedicated facility. Pickup and delivery is on us!
