Cleaning Oriental Rugs – Preserving Your Textiles

Oriental rug cleaning is not necessarily difficult. Of course, all rugs will need a general cleaning, but how often will depend upon the heaviness of the walking traffic on it. Once a year, you will probably need to clean the whole rug.

If there is a large amount of dirt, you can follow a few simple steps to clean it. One way to check if it needs this yearly care is by lifting a corner and kicking the rug to see if a large amount of dust flies up. You can also check by rubbing your hand in an arc for a few minutes to see if your hands become dirty. One other way to check is to inspect the warp by folding a corner backward so that you can see through the pile to the underlying threads.

First, vacuum the loose dirt from both sides unless it is an Oriental rug cleaning. Silk is delicate enough that the high-speed brush of the vacuum will damage the fibers. After testing for color fastness on wool rugs, clean those that did not bleed with a mild rug shampoo and cool water to clean by brushing it in the direction of the nap without scrubbing too hard. Make sure it is completely wet with soapy water even through the fringes. Using clear water, rinse it thoroughly. Hanging it outside and using a hose is fine. To help squeeze all the water out of the rug, you can use a squeegee usually used for windows until no more water can be squeezed out. It should lie flat until the pile side is dry and then flipped to allow the back to dry thoroughly. To soften the pile again, lightly run a vacuum over the stiff pile. If it did bleed, do not follow these instructions; have it dry cleaned, instead.

For materials other than wool, special care must be given. Cotton fibers will turn brown easily, so a natural cleaner that has special detergents and sodium bisulfate will be needed. If it is silk, you should never get it wet. Silk tends to yellow, form water rings, and loose dye when it gets wet. Rayon fibers loose fiber strength and become damaged and warped easily. Keep silk rugs out of high traffic areas, and avoid rayon as rug material if you can.

To clean the fringes that often become gray, use a brush to cover them with your cleaning solution. Using some sort of pad beneath the fringe to protect the floor beneath it is a good idea. Make sure that you do not rub the fringe back over the wet carpet as it could lead to bleeding dye onto the fringes. Once they are clean, the fringes should be brushed out over wax paper to aid in drying without damaging the floor.