Fringe. People love it. Or they hate it. On some rugs, it’s short, so it’s not a bother. On others it’s L-O-N-G, and drives some rug owners nuts. (I’ve had more than one take scissors to them in frustration… and then discovered the costly error of their ways, which we will get to later in [...]
Rug Fringe. What You Need To Know.
Filed Under: Professional Rug Cleaners, Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Antique rugs, Area rugs, Chinese rugs, Hand woven rugs, India rugs, Machine made rugs, Oriental rugs, Rug buying, Rug Cleaning, Rug damage, Rug fringe, Rug pre-inspection, Rug repair, Rug washing, Rug weaving, Rugs, Wool rugs
Rug White Knots. (What You Need To Know.)
“My rug has white dots in the field, is this damage?” Many rug cleaners, and rug owners for that matter, do not know that the “100% WOOL RUG” in front of them (that is what the label says) often has a very large amount of COTTON in it. In the loom photo to the right, [...]
Filed Under: Professional Rug Cleaners, Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Antique rugs, Area rugs, Chinese rugs, Hand woven rugs, Oriental rugs, Rug buying, Rug Cleaning, Rug damage, Rug loom, Rug pre-inspection, Rug repair, Rug washing, Rug weaving, Rugs, Wool rugs
Paper rugs. (Seriously?)
In the rug world there are some products that I label as DWT. “Design Without Thought.” Paper rugs are one of these DWT rugs, because obviously not much attention was put into the practicality of paper as a floor covering. I had heard of “paper” rugs in the past, but only as a novelty, like [...]
Filed Under: Professional Rug Cleaners, Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Area rugs, Hand woven rugs, Oriental rugs, paper rugs, Rug buying, Rug Cleaning, Rugs, Rugs and pets, Wool rugs
Jute Rugs. What You Need To Know.
Jute is a plant fiber that we used to only see in a small number of older American hand hooked rugs… …and some more contemporary European latch hook, embroidery, and needlepoint rugs. But lately jute has become the cheap and plentiful fiber of choice for many rugs we see coming out of India (the world’s [...]
Filed Under: Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Area rugs, Hand woven rugs, India rugs, Jute rugs, Oriental rugs, Rug Cleaning, Rug odors, Rug pre-inspection, Rug washing, Rugs, Wool rugs
Shag Rugs. What You Need To Know.
One of the frequent questions I get asked by cleaners and consumers today is “what about SHAG rugs?” My answer to them is this: “Cool idea… BAD reality.” Shag rugs out in the market today are far and away the most difficult rugs to clean and maintain. In theory I understand the “fun” of it. [...]
Filed Under: Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Area rugs, Machine made rugs, Rug buying, Rug Cleaning, Rug washing, Rugs, shag rugs, Wool rugs
Cheap synthetic rugs. What you need to know.
It used to be, about a decade ago, that if you wanted to buy a rug you went to a rug store. And odds are, you’d walk away with a wool rug. Wool is the best fiber on the planet for rugs. It’s strong, dyes up vividly, always washes up beautifully, and lasts and last [...]
Filed Under: Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Area rugs, Machine made rugs, Rug buying, Rug Cleaning, Rugs, Wool rugs
Pottery Barn rugs to run from…
I like Pottery Barn. They have some cool household items and furnishings, some of which are good quality at a good price. Their rug department however, is a different story… and in the rug cleaning world the term “POTTERY BARN RUG” is becoming synonymous with “PROBLEM RUGS.” First of all, Pottery Barn does carry some VERY [...]
Filed Under: Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Area rugs, Buckling rugs, Hand woven rugs, India rugs, Oriental rugs, Pet urine damage, Rayon rugs, Rug buying, Rug Cleaning, Rug washing, Rug weaving, Rugs, Tufted rugs, Wool rugs
Buying rugs. (Tips for the nervous rug shopper.)
Rug dealers as a “group” get a bad rap. Everyone has heard a story, or seen an exposé, on someone being ripped off on a rug purchase. They were sold an “antique”…when it wasn’t. Or they were sold a silk rug…when it was actually viscose or mercerized cotton. It’s an industry that is similar to [...]
Filed Under: Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Antique rugs, Area rugs, Chinese rugs, Hand woven rugs, India rugs, Oriental rugs, Rug bleeding, Rug buying, Rug Cleaning, Rug Dyes, Rug pre-inspection, Rug weaving, Rugs, Rugs and pets, Silk rugs, Viscose rugs, Wool rugs
Rugs with material on the back.
Most professional rug cleaners should know this, but in case you don’t… … wool rugs with material on the back like this one, are called TUFTED rugs: Some have a loosely attached material like the above one from China, and some have material that is more firmly in place like this one from India: I [...]
Filed Under: Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Area rugs, Buckling rugs, Chinese rugs, India rugs, Pet urine damage, Rug Cleaning, Rug pre-inspection, Rug washing, Rugs, Rugs and pets, Tufted rugs, Water damaged rugs, Wool rugs
Over-Dyed Rugs. (The BIG disaster awaiting careless cleaners.)
There are a multitude of reasons why a rug’s dyes may run during cleaning. In fact, I wrote a post on several of those reasons behind how a rug’s dyes can bleed on you. The careless cleaner approaches a rug as if they are all the same. “Wool is wool, what’s the big deal?” Most don’t [...]
Filed Under: Rug Cleaning, Rug Owners, Rug Shoppers Tagged With: Afghan rugs, Antique rugs, Area rugs, Hand woven rugs, Machine made rugs, Oriental rugs, Rug bleeding, Rug buying, Rug Cleaning, Rug damage, Rug dye migration, Rug dye test, Rug Dyes, Rug pre-inspection, Rug washing, Rugs, Tea washed rugs, Wool rugs