How to clean Area rugs

What is the best way to clean your rugs. I vacuumed then used my 175 and white pad on our house rug to keep it low moisture, it came out ok but when i used my HWE it kind of bubbled up and then finally went flat when it was dry.

I tend to see synthetics curlying more than wool. Was yours synthetic?

I use various methods and equipment depending on the rug construction, fiber type, machine or hand made, soil level and stuff like that.

And I've learned which ones to avoid hanging to dry, to avoid stretching that causes bubbling in the middle where it curves around the bar.

Dave do use a pit? I have used one.

Material matters of course and you have to adjust to meet the needs of the construction.

That disclaimer being said, I clean them in my garage over a large sheet of radon barrier (very thick gas impermeable plastic sheathing). I don't hang them to dry, instead I float them like you do carpet in a flood job.

In some cases, I will apply several typhoon / gale force fans to the floating to speed things up, but that normally blows the gravel right off the driveway outside.

Brian if you ever clean one that doesn't flatten down after it dries your supposed to block it. You re-wet it and use tack strips, blocks of wood, some even staple it to the floor to keep the laying flat and squared while the dry

^I dry them the same way Milspec explained if I don't hang them.

I saw  a video of a guy building a blocking/drying platform out of wood..he drilled holes on the top and two slits on the side so that the snail fans would fit perfectly sealed. It was pretty cool.

Mo wrote:I saw  a video of a guy building a blocking/drying platform out of wood..he drilled holes on the top and two slits on the side so that the snail fans would fit perfectly sealed. It was pretty cool.

That is a good idea for the airflow and 0'quick drying. I saw a bunch of 20 foot pipes and winch, blower hooked up to electrical motor and some other stuff to do rugs on ebay but they wanted 20k. Basic easy to buy stuff could build same set up cheap. No need yet for any setups 1 rug a month is not worth it.

Yeah you have to have the volume to invest in something like that. Heck you have to have the volume to make a profit too.

I just had a brick and mortar rug plant open up in town. I was thinking about negotiating a deal with them to clean the rugs.

On most rugs pre vac really slow and 2-3 passes,   put tarp under rug (got a nice black one just for this),    check for bleed,    spray with encap - Joe's works well,     work in with strong dry if needed then matrix all fiber rinse on lower temperature.      

This leaves most all rugs looking really nice and is safe for most anything you will run into,   some we just encap no rinse for the random cottons etc or other white rugs silk etc

We dont touch any really thin hand woven rugs,   and anything really fancy Id rather not mess with.    I send them all to D.A. Burns because they have more knowledge and multi million dollar cleaning facilities...  they can afford to mess up a 12,000$ rug

if the rug is really expensive its just not worth it,   but chances are if it really expensive the owner knows not to ask a carpet cleaner to do it.       Did have a lady as me to clean her 50ft rug,     I think it was 50X25/30     I said hell no.     Rug was prob 200k

I'd take that request of cleaning a rug of that value a sign of trust....And then decide if it's worth my time and risk based on my quote amount given to clean it.........sounds like a real good money maker. The more risk, the more reward.

Mo wrote:
I just had a brick and mortar rug plant open up in town. I was thinking about negotiating a deal with them to clean the rugs.

I don't think that's a bad idea, if you can work out a deal with them so you're still making money being the middle/delivery/tax paying/assumed risk man.

I've thought about that before, but since the closest "plant" to me is 25 miles away I don't see it being worth the time to make two trips there to drop off and pickup.

In my case I think it's better and more profitable for me to have the knowledge to deal with about any type of rug that comes along, and just clean it myself.......or know when to walk if it's something over my head.

Davey Cracker wrote:

Mo wrote:
I just had a brick and mortar rug plant open up in town. I was thinking about negotiating a deal with them to clean the rugs.

I don't think that's a bad idea, if you can work out a deal with them so you're still making money being the middle/delivery/tax paying/assumed risk man.  

I've thought about that before, but since the closest "plant" to me is 25 miles away I don't see it being worth the time to make two trips there to drop off and pickup.

In my case I think it's better and more profitable for me to have the knowledge to deal with about any type of rug that comes along, and just clean it myself.......or know when to walk if it's something over my head.

That is very sound advice. If you contract with someone else to sub that work to, you will still be responsible for their results. I would rather answer for myself than try and explain why company xyz screwed up their rug.

Actually a 50/50 vinegar and water solution is a natural dye lock and perfect for breaking down urine deposits

Have you ever used that on Oriental or Persian rugs Mo ?

I have. I normally tell customers that any rug that has pet damage is a salvage job. Since I don't have a wash pit, If the rug is saturated with urine I turn it down.

If I black light it and its just a few puddles I put my water claw under the rug and pour the 50/50 vinegar solution on the area, let it sit for a bit then turn on the water claw and pout some more solution then rinse and clean as normal.

You can make your own pit with 2" PVC pipe and a tarp and use "Pro's Choice Rug Restorer" if you want to save those urine soaked rugs.......In my experience, as long as you let the rug soak for 12 hrs. it will remove all odor, but the real work is then flushing it out. So don't short change yourself if doing this, because it's time consuming.

If a customer has a rug they paid a couple to several K for, in my experience they're usually willing to pay for the time and treatment to do that process to save the rug. I've charged $3-700 for it, depending on the size of the rug.

I have used a temp wash pit on a few throw sways for practice.

You know what be cool is to build a blocking/drying platform and be able to flip over to turn it into a wash pit. That one build can have 3 functions

Almost any acidic product will help set dyes and break down pet urine. Many of our rugs that are contaminated with urine we treat with citric acid and use a pressure wash gun from both sides of the rug at about 1000 psi ( pressure is based on construction and condition) and also extract from both sides. you will see a definite change in the color of the water when urine has been rinsed thoroughly. Same thing with deodorizer on both sides of carpet. Almost always sell protector on these jobs also.
Biggest and most important part of any rug cleaning is pre inspection.

This is interesting, how about the stains from the urine itself, does it usually come clean with rug restorer or OSR after the dyes have been set ? Especially on those exotic rugs, of course you have to use OSR for wools on those ?

OSR is getting to be a generic term. Be careful that you are not using a product with a powdered peroxide. Oxygenated products should not be used in most cases on wool rugs. In extreme cases a reducing product is much safer. What should be used is acids that neutralize the alkaline urine deposits so they can be removed. Also be careful about enzyme digesters for urine and only use woolsafe approved products. Remember, wool is a protein product which is what enzymes break down.

dp1 wrote:This is interesting, how about the stains from the urine itself, does it usually come clean with rug restorer or OSR after the dyes have been set ? Especially on those exotic rugs, of course you have to use OSR for wools on those ?

Rug Restorer is made for urine soaked wool rugs, but I've had the same success with it on synthetic rugs.

And it cleans the $hit out of them in the process of doing it's 100% odor removal job.

I would normally avoid using it on handmade wool rug though, as the color loss will be noticeable......I did it once, and it was 'washed-out' looking afterwards. Of course unless, you explain that to the customer and they're OK with it..........it's really that or the live with a piss stank rug on the house, and a lot of the time those hand made rugs are special to them, and some color loss beets urine stank.

This of course an "In Plant" process, which eliminates you, DP.

This to me is worth the trip into the plant, at the price per sq I charge for doing it.......$6-8 s.f.

kleen1 wrote:OSR is getting to be a generic term.  Be careful that you are not  using a product with a powdered peroxide.  Oxygenated products should not be used in most cases on wool rugs.  In extreme cases a reducing product is much safer.  What should be used is acids that neutralize the alkaline urine deposits so they can be removed.  Also be careful about enzyme digesters for urine and only use woolsafe approved products.  Remember, wool is  a protein product which is what enzymes break down.

I have never had the cajones to pressure wash wool. I have synthetic rugs and car upholstery