Oriental Rugs must be properly cleaned!

This is very important. A hand-woven oriental rug is a fabric constructed of (usually) a wool pile on a cotton foundation. When cleaning wool, the process must NEVER involve hot water, high pressure water, steam, detergents or harsh chemicals.

Wool is a natural fiber with natural oils. Any cleaning method which has the potential to strip the lanolin oils from the wool MUST BE AVOIDED! Unfortunately, MOST “carpet cleaners” use the same machines and chemicals on rugs as they do on the synthetic fibers of wall-to-wall carpeting. This can be a disaster.

The only cleaning method we at The Flying Carpet approve for cleaning oriental rugs is the use of a VERY mild soap solution, cold water, and gentle agitation of the fibers to release embedded dirt and grit. Our cleaning method also involves vacuuming most of the water out of the rug before allowing it to air dry. This ensures that all soap and dirt are removed from the rug, and that the rug is not stretched or damaged.

Our rug cleaning schedule is as follows:

• General wash: $2.50 per sq. ft.
• Odor treatment: Additional $0.50 per sq. ft.
• Moth treatment: Although we do offer a moth treatment, we find that it is generally not necessary in a well-kept house. We are also happy to wrap rugs for long-term storage and provide a general valuation.

A couple of things to remember are that we do our absolute best to ensure that colors do not run or “bleed” during the cleaning process, but due to the effects of previous poor cleaning methods a small amount of color run can occur. Also, some odors have resisted our best efforts at removal, usually cat urine. We can make no guarantees to remove all stains or odors, but we do pledge to do our very best, within the limits of not damaging the rug.