Rugs
Area Rug Cleaning
Rugs worth keeping come back to the shop on Santa Fe St for a full submersion wash, then dry flat under control. It takes longer than an on site clean because that is what protects the dyes.
Chapter 01
Why a rug does not get cleaned like a carpet
Wall to wall carpet is fixed, synthetic in most homes, and backed by a pad that takes the water. A hand knotted wool or silk rug is none of those things. It is a loose textile with dyes that can move, a foundation that can distort, and fringes that behave differently from the field.
So the rug leaves the house. In the shop it goes through a submersion wash bath where the whole textile is worked in water rather than surface cleaned in place, which is the only way to get out what has settled into the base of the pile.
Area rug in a submersion wash bath at the All American shop
Colour bleeding, and how we avoid it
Dye testing comes first. Certified technicians check each colour before anything gets wet, because the reds and indigos in older hand made rugs are the ones that run, and once a dye has bled into an adjacent cream field it is a repair, not a rewash.
Wool safe cleaners and controlled water temperature do the rest. Nothing aggressive, nothing fast.
Chapter 03
Drying is half the job
A rug that dries slowly or unevenly can grow mildew in the foundation or dry out of square. Ours dry flat in the shop with air moved across them, which is simply not possible in a customer's living room.
If the rug sits on hard floor and has been slipping, ask about Teebaud rug padding while it is with us.
Pet damage on rugs
Urine is the common one, and on a rug it is worse than on carpet because it wicks through the foundation and dries on both faces. Submersion is genuinely the better answer here, because the contamination is flushed out rather than diluted.
Tell us when it happened and roughly how often. It changes the treatment.
Mike and his team did great job with a 9x12 and a 8x10 rug that were completely soiled from the dogs. Got them back clean and fresh, smelling great. Layne M.
Send us a photo of the rug
Text a picture and the rough size and we can tell you what it needs before it moves.
Call or text (858) 533-7003