Persian Rug Cleaning

Persian rugs made before 1950 are the benchmark by which all oriental rugs are judged.

As with any soft furnishing these come with inherent cleaning problems.

When did Persia become Iran?

In 1935 the Iranian government requested those countries which it had diplomatic relations with, to call Persia “Iran,” which is the name of the country in Persian.

Some towns and villages that produce rugs that you may have heard of

Ahar Northern Iran producing Ahar Persian Rugs
Bijar Northwest Iran producing Bijar Persian Rugs
Hamadan Central Iran producing Hamadan Persian Rugs
Isfahan Central Iran producing Isfahan Persian Rugs

What makes up a Persian Rug

As a general rule, rugs with a depressed wraps and curvilinear designs were usually made in Perisan cities, where less densely knotted rugs were made in the Persian villages.

Since the start of the 1980 many Persian rugs have started to look like each other whether from a City or a small village in Iran.

Characteristics Of a Persian Rug

Knot asymmetrical 200-625 knots per square inch
Wrap cotton or silk
Weft 2 shoots cotton sinuous weft blue
Pile wool
Ends kilim with and blue wool weft pattern knotted fringe
Sides single cord over cast in wool
Design floral centre medallion on floral filled fields; hunting scene: pictorial
Colours Red, blue, ivory
Sizes usually 5*7 feet (152 cm *213 cm)

Can Persian Rugs be Cleaned

We’ve designed our 7 step cleaning process to ensure your rugs are given the expert treatment. Your rugs will go through a thorougher detox which will rejuvenate and restore their original beauty.

Also we don’t just take the dirt from the surface, we remove every last bit of soil from the entire rug, both sides with our Persian Rug Cleaning process.

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7 Steps to A Beautiful Rug

Persian Rug Cleaning Process

1. Identifying Your Persian Rug

Your rug is firstly measured, and tested for colour fastness. Then it will be inspected for any pre existing issues such as pile reversal, pet urine issues, and general damage. A report is made, photograph taken and attached to the client file.

Q. What will happen if when you inspect my rug you find you can not remove the stains?

A. We will always tell you up front what you can expect from our cleaning. If we find any areas of concern we will contact you straight away before any cleaning work is carried out. If you feel that you would prefer not to go ahead with the clean the rug will be stored until it is ready to be collected. There will be no charge for the initial inspection and/or test patch.

2. Dusting Your Persian Rug

The rug will be “dusted” using the “ Rug Badger”, a machine that gently beats the back of the rug which allows all the dry soil to fall out where all abrasive grit (which prematurely ages rugs), hair and any non water soluble soil is removed. The rug is vacuumed and is now ready for the cleaning process to begin.

Q. I have watched your video and it looks like the machine works very well but does the beating machine damage the rug in any way?

A. Definitely not. Whilst the back of the rug is gently beaten the secret of the rug badger is that it also harnesses over 40,000 harmonic vibrations per minute. It is these vibrations that shake all the dry soil out from the rug without the need of heavy aggressive beating.

3. Immersive cleaning Your Persian Rug

The washing process can now begin by firstly placing the rug in to the wash pit. The pit will be filled with water and a “rug roller” is used to squeegee the water through the rug. The rug is then thoroughly washed on both sides with a specially designed Oriental rug shampoo, and once again the “rug roller” is used to ensure that the shampoo passes right the way through the rug. Any fringes will be cleaned and detailed by hand.

Q. Can every rug be washed like this and wont the colours rug if gets too wet?

A. We wash almost all of our rugs using our immersive cleaning methods. We can also clean using various other methods right the way from full immersion washing to completely dry cleaning. All rugs are tested for colour bleed and shrinkage prior going into our wash pits and it is this test that will determine the best method of cleaning.

4. Rapid moisture removal Your Persian Rug

The rug is then rinsed and the moisture extracted using The Water Claw to remove all the excess water is pulled out of the rug leaving it as dry as possible. Rapid moisture removal is essential to eliminate the risk of colours bleeding into each other.

Q. Can every rug be washed like this and wont the colours rug if gets too wet?

5. Rug Grooming Your Persian Rug

The rug is then groomed and pile set to its original position, (which is always running down to the bottom of the rug) and placed in our specially designed drying room. It will be left in there over night to dry, sometimes longer for very thick or shag pile rugs.

Q. How do you know if the rug is completely dry before wrapping it?

A. We test all rugs with a Protimeter before removing from the drying room to ensure it is completely dry and safe to be stored if needed.

6. Detailing Your Persian Rug

The rug will then be closely inspected for any spots/stains which will be treated including any extra fringe detailing. Any additional treatments will then usually be applied at this point and then will once again return to the drying room for the final time.

Q. Don’t all the spot’s and stains come out in the was ?

A. Some spots and stains require extra treatment using specialised products. Attention to detail is very important to us which is why we have this additional inspection.

7. Finishing Touches to Your Persian Rug

We will then vacuum the rug to remove any fine fibres that may have shed and groom the rug one last time before it is wrapped. We use recycled brown wrapping paper to wrap the rug as it is a breathable wrap should the rug need to be stored for any period of time.

Q. Can I still have the stain guard applied even if I decide to have it after it passed this step or is it too late?

A. We can apply any of the additional extra treatments even if you decide after we have wrapped it ready to be returned, it will just take an extra day or so before it will be ready again.

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