Tag: Oriental Rug Cleaning Chapel Hill NC

What does it cost to clean an oriental rug?

It depends on a number of factors such as the construction of the rug, the fiber type used in the rug and the current existing conditions of the rug. This is why a very thorough inspection of the rug is required before an accurate estimate can be given.

The first step to answering the question is to determine if you want a woven textile specialist to clean your rug or if you want a jack of all trades that also cleans rugs to do the work. The company’s website will tell you which is which.

I will start by saying that a true rug cleaner will never offer to clean an oriental rug at your home. There are many risks involved in cleaning a rug on site or on your driveway.

Proper cleaning of an oriental rug requires a number of important steps.

Dye stability testing. Many rugs have dyes that are not stable and can bleed if proper procedures and cleaning agents are not used.

Dry soil removal. If this is not done correctly, the dry soil will turn into mud in the foundation of the rug. Special equipment is require for this and it can not be done onsite.

Dealing with any special conditions. The primary special condition we are asked to take care of is pet accidents. In order to effectively remove pet urine from a woven textile, the textile must be thoroughly flushed with neutralizing agents and a continuous flow of clean water. This obviously can not be performed with an onsite cleaning. Carpet cleaners that clean rugs onsite will apply deodorizers that last about 3 days then the odor is back.

Cleaning of the fringe. With a rug laying on a hardwood or carpeted floor, cleaning the fringe is likely to damage the flooring underneath.

Cleaning of the face fibers. This can be done to a degree with an onsite cleaning. The top of the face fibers will be cleaned, but nothing else. Extreme care must be taken by the truckmount carpet cleaner to insure that dye bleeding does not occur.

Cleaning of the foundation fibers. With onsite cleaning, nothing even gets to the foundation fibers therefore no cleaning.

Thorough rinsing of the rug. This obviously can not happen onsite. A truckmount carpet cleaner can only rinse so much. And a bonnet cleaning doesn’t rinse at all.

Speed drying the rug. With an onsite cleaning, it is up to mother nature to dry the rug. This is where most damage occurs because the rug is left wet for way to long. Dye bleeding and browning usually happen during long drying periods.

It is safe to say that onsite cleaning rugs does not accomplish much. A fair price for this type of cleaning is about 50 cents per square foot. There is not much cleaning going on and potentially a lot of damage. In fact, if you choose to go this route, I would recommend getting a cover page of the cleaners General Liability insurance to make sure they can take the risk if /when something goes wrong.

Many cleaners will offer to take the rug back to their shop for cleaning. Some things to be careful of is the type of cleaning they do. Is their process fully automated with very little human involvement? This can produce poor results due to incomplete rinsing and no special attention to the individual rug. Do they use Turkish baths/multi rug washtubs where your rug is co-mingled with up to 10 other rugs in water that gets changed once per week? Yes this happens every day. Bleach or dichlor is commonly used in the water to try to keep it sanitary. This process weakens the cotton foundation and fringe. It also descales the wool and can cause color loss. Do they promote steam extraction? This is a fancy way to say truckmounted carpet cleaning. Many times it is onsite cleaning at the company’s shop. At a much higher price. For these types of services, you can expect to
pay $1.75-$3.00 per square foot.

What you are looking for is a company that does not take short cuts. A company that hand cleans each rug individually one at a time with no bleach using fresh clean water for each rug. This is the safest, most thorough and most sanitary form of cleaning. This type of process has human involvement at every step. Each rug gets its own special attention to detail and the cleaning process can be changed should a special need arise during the cleaning. With this process, the rug doesn’t move to the next step until each step is completed properly. Companies that operate this way do not have set pricing. They evaluate each rug and price each rug individually based on its needs.

Rug Resolutions Rug Cleaning hand cleans rugs individually one at a time with no bleach using fresh clean water for each rug. We don’t take shortcuts in our cleaning process. Give our rug specialists a call today to schedule an evaluation for your woven treasures. 919-744-8620 or visit us at www.jonp34.sg-host.com