Rug Washing

These are a few photos of our rug washing shop and some rugs. We have one of the very few true rug-washing shops. Most rug "cleaners" do not actually wash rugs in a wash tank as we do, and the difference in quality is outstanding!

Click each photo to enlarge it. Please maximize your browser window--these are high-resolution photos for your enjoyment.

1. Beautiful old Iranian rug. Very heavily soiled. Fading, bleaching, bleeding, damage and previous repairs already exist. Initial testing shows that the reds bleed with mild cleaning agents and also a dye-setting agent causes bleeding. You read that right--a dye-setting agent caused bleeding! This is just one example why you must hire an expert to wash your rugs. We know the potential pitfalls of which other cleaners aren't even aware. Extraordinary procedures must be taken to wash this delicate rug and not cause further damage.

2. Dry vacuuming and dusting. This rug is fairly small, only 10'6" x 4' 11" but the first vacuuming removed this much dirt! NOTE the vacuum cleaner used (pictured) is a Dyson, also available through our company.* Call 615-826-0909 and ask for a free demo (Nashville, TN vicinity). After vacuuming both sides of the rug, we dusted it for about three hours, to remove the dry soil that vacuuming can't get.

3. This is the pile of dust from successive vacuuming and dusting. We could not capture all the dust from the dusting area, as much of it becomes airborne and ends up, well, everywhere. But this is what we could get. The pile is about 15 inches in diameter!

4. But how deep is that pile of dirt? About 1 1/2 inches! That pile of dirt weighed between one and two pounds. Remember, that's just from vacuuming and dusting. We haven't even begun to wash the rug yet.

5. This is the rug in the wash tank. We haven't filled the tank yet, but we've treated the rug with our proprietary method to prepare this very risky and valuable rug for washing. After prepping, we thoroughly wet the rug, then apply the detergent according to its particular fiber, dyes, and risks. What you see is the detergent after having been brushed into the face of the rug. You may notice that dirt is already starting to turn the detergent brown.

6. Filling the tank. After detergent application and brushing, we fill the tank with cool, clear, water (wa-ter), to help wash out the loosened soils and spent detergent. You can see the water already turning brown from the dirt.

7. Our tank is lined with a white plastic tarp (for lack of a better term--"liner" sounded redundant). Note how dirty the water is, even though we already vacuumed and dusted. Remember this: there is much more dirt in your fine rug than you can see or remove by vacuuming. Rug washing is vital to the longevity of your fine rugs! Washing by immersion. Note the dirty water coming out of the rug.


Before		After
Click each photo to enlarge it.

8. & 9. Finally, here are two photos of the rug you've seen us wash above. Besides looking "clean," note that the colors look brighter, and the pattern appears sharper. What the photo is unfortunately unable to show is that the dark borders on the "tic tac toe" medallions were black--we thought. After washing, we discovered that they are really a rich royal blue. Quite beautiful!

If you have any questions about our services, please call our office for further details. 615-826-7324

*Yes, you can buy Dyson vacuums at big box stores and discounters, but you may get a discount version (cheaper parts and accessories) of a similar Dyson machine sold through independent dealers. And you definitely won't get personalized service, home delivery, assembly and training. They don't call them "discounters" for nothing. Just be careful what you buy. Caveat emptor.

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