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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Rug Topics for CFI Members.

I just had the privilege of speaking to a group of CFI members up in the Inland Empire. (That is the Carpet & Fabricare Institute, which is a professional trade association that covers cleaning and restoration professionals throughout California, Nevada, and Arizona.) The topic was… I know you’re shocked… RUGS! =) After several hours of [...]

Pet puddles on rugs. (Uh oh, urine trouble!)

You’re in trouble indeed… It’s all fun and games until the valuable oriental rug in the den gets a pet urine stain that’s not coming out. Pet urine is at the top of the “uh oh” chart of rug disasters. The stains are usually permanent. But if the field has a busy design that might [...]

Why some rugs buckle.

I receive a lot of “help me” calls from rug cleaners and rug owners on rugs that are buckling. They want to know what to do. And my answer is usually… it depends. That’s because there are a number of reasons why a rug is buckling on someone. Some of these reasons are correctable. Others [...]

House plant damage to rugs. Your options.

Watering a potted plant near a rug can lead to a big ugly dry rot hole in a rug if it’s left undisturbed for too long. If you want to know why this happens, please read this => Don’t Water The Rugs! That’s what happened to this runner. The moisture from a potted plant was [...]

FAKE silk rugs. What you need to know.

“I know better.” That is EXACTLY what I said in my head as I was looking at a cute shiny, smooth blue top at Nordstrom… …and saw the label said “60% rayon.” You see, I know that rayon (also sold as viscose) is one of the weakest fibers out there. It’s one of the fibers [...]

Silk rugs. What you need to know.

Silk is known as a fabric, and fiber, of luxury. People think you need to baby silk items, but silk is actually a very strong – and beautiful – fiber. (Unlike rayon and viscose, both names for artificial silk rug fibers, which are incredibly weak, yellow, lose color, and break at an alarming rate under [...]

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