If you have plants anywhere near your rugs in your home – or if you are a rug cleaner and see plants near rugs you are picking up to clean – you want to watch out for this particular problem that often is not discovered until it’s too late.
Water the plants NOT the rugs.
Even the most careful person spills at times. Either spraying the leaves, or putting water in the planter, there are spills. Small ones over time.
There is also condensation around the bottom of the planter, especially if it’s heavy and is not moved often.
The rugs may feel dry to the touch…
…but you don’t know what’s happening INSIDE the rug.
Those fringe tassels you see on your woven rug are the foundation warps of that piece. One strand runs all the way through the middle to the opposite side of the rug, and the wool (or silk) fuzzy knots are wrapped around those warps.
Here’s a rug cut open to show you the white warps inside – which on most woven rugs today the warps and wefts are COTTON.
Thick cotton warps with wool fibers twisted around them.
Cotton is absorbant.
This means with a spill on a wool rug (or silk), you can blot the area with a towel to “wipe up the spill” and a little moisture has already likely seeped down into those inside cotton fibers, and have made them damp.
You won’t be able to “feel” if the inside of the rug is dry. Only a moisture probe can poke inside and tell you that.
Every rug cleaning professional has moisture probes handy to make sure every rug is 100% dry before it is put on the “ready” shelf or placed in storage, because moisture can lead to mildew growth like this:
Mold damage on rug corner under a potted plant.
Mildew damage more visible on back side of rug near planter.
The problem with long-term moisture on cotton foundation fibers is that they begin to rot. And when dry rot sets in, the fibers literally fall apart.
If you are not careful when you move a rug that has water damage from a planter, you could literally create a hole in the damaged area. It will fall apart in your hands.
Rotten fringe tears away from a tufted rug.
Corner of Spanish rug shows mildew growth.
Closer look shows dry rot in the foundation fibers.
With a rotten corner the rug now needs to be rewoven or patched.
Potted plants are not the only source of moisture that can create damage secretly to your rugs. Other sources are water coolers, condensation from HVAC units, any leaks from a home that may affect walls or floors, and of course – pets. (Though pets have the added damage-causing element of creating stains that cannot be removed, added odors, and contamination from the waste – that’s why you need to clean up pet puddles right away.)
Help reduce the risks by keeping the house plants away from the rugs. When spills do happen, clean them up right away AND elevate the rug longer than you feel you should, just to make sure the INSIDE of the rug is truly dry. (I’ve used a hair dryer on warm to dry a spill from the back side of the rug just to make sure it was completely dry. Warm air helps the evaporation process.)
You may be super careful with your plant watering process, but not everyone in your home may have your same care. And you cannot keep the condensation from having a long term risk to your oriental rugs.
If you are worried about possible moisture risks, then flip your rugs over and see if you have any areas of concern. Cotton fibers experiencing mildew activity and dry rot will feel stiffer than the rest of the rug when you handle it. And because the foundation fibers are often white cotton, unless there are other colors being used in the wefts, you can often see when there is mildew activity due to discoloration visible on close inspection.
You also will often see dye migration visible from the back side as well, because even colorfast rugs when exposed over a long period to moisture, can bleed in those affected areas. You will see the signs if there is a problem – and if there IS a problem, make sure to stop the source of the water exposure, and handle that rug with extra care.
Dry rot damage is not reversible. Take care to make sure your rugs do not experience it.
- Lisa
P.S. Thank you Rug Chick readers for another wonderful year! I hope you and your families have an amazing 2011. =)
very good informative well written piece of information keep up the good work happy new year to you all
I did water my rug….. unintentionally when watering a new plant.
So now I have mildew/mold (not sure which) on the fringe end. I have googled solutions of how to deal with. At present all is dry but there is a smell that lingers….. so what’s your approach. (I’ve read about vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and ammonia.)
thanks C. Hart
Are the fringe tassels cotton or wool? If possible, please email me a photo to rugchick@gmail.com and I can give you some steps to try yourself, and if you have no success I can help you locate a rug cleaner to do it.
I’ll watch for the email.
Lisa
Hi Rug chick,
Do you have any suggestions on a rug that a 6 month old baby will be crawling and learning to walk on? Plus, she still spits up formula and it will possibly land on the rug. I don’t want a scratchy rug because my baby’s skin is very delicate and I don’t want one that sheds a lot because the fibers will get into her mouth, eyes, and nose. I don’t want a rug that will out gas either. I have been studying rugs for weeks now and feel a bit overwhelmed. We need a rug for our living room so that we can get down on the floor and play while watching TV. We have hardwood floors. I’d appreciate any help. Thank you!
Fran, if this were a rug for my home and baby, I would choose wool, but I’d choose a Karastan wool rug (which is machine woven as opposed to hand woven). This is top of the line quality, but also tends to have colorful designs and processing of the fibers for a “soft” feel, that I think will be what you are looking for here. Anything synthetic (nylon, polypropolene, olefin, acrylic) which are all plastic and petroleum-based products are just not what I would want to roll around on.
Wool has natural repellency, so you don’t need to cover it up in chemical protective solutions (like Scotchguard) – which again, I’m not a fan of adding that type of residue to fibers. That said, spills like vomit, or juices, which are all acidic will be a problem on any fibers. Wool will “suspend” the spills long enough to blot them up, and then you can flush out the excess with soda water – but with Karastan wool rugs, they have very colorfast dyes. They are not as wonderful as real hand woven rugs, but they are still a superior product.
What I would NOT recommend are any TUFTED rugs (rugs with material on the back). These are held together by latex, which often has an odor which is an irritant not only to adults, but especially would be on concern to me having babies crawling on it. I know they say it’s “safe” – but in my world, when something smells bad, and my eyes hurt, that just does not say “safe” to me. Again, just my personal taste.
I’ve had Karastan machine woven wool rugs with classic Persian designs in my rug shop that are older than me and look brand new. They hold up well AND… they are made in America, which is nice also. =) If you go for a cheap rug instead, you will likely have to replace it a time or two during the “childhood years”… so might as well get a piece that will be a bit more, but will last 10 times as long, and you can likely sell in the future when you decide to redecorate in the future.
Hope that helps,
Lisa
P.S. There are some items with the Karastan brand that are products coming in from China – take a look at the labels. You do not want anything tufted (material on the back) or anything with rayon or viscose as the content.
Thank you Rug Chick!! This has helped me greatly. I like the idea of Made in America. We need to support local especially in today’s economy. I will look into the Karastan machine woven wool rug, made in America, not tufted, and no rayon or viscose added. I feel like I have a more educated goal now. Once again, thank you and my baby thanks you too!
)
Just to second Lisa’s advice, for what its worth, we clean hundreds of rugs each year and a lot of them are Karastans. I really can’t say anything bad about them. They hold up really well, clean up great, the dyes are very stable, and they have such a nice soft suppleness unique only to Karastans. I really can’t imagine a better choice.