Just had a GREAT workshop yesterday at Interlink Supply of Tampa with a full classroom of cleaning and restoration professionals. They came to spend the day learning some rug cleaning and identification guidelines, and handling rugs when they are involved in floods and fires. We also went into restoration marketing strategies and how to educate both consumers and insurance adjusters on the equipment and methods needed for handling the structural drying and contents cleaning of disaster work.
It was an energetic, and very knowledgeable group – great questions and dialogue back and forth.
And… one of the attendees brought us a “surprise” – a silk rug:
Here I am explaining the dangers of this silk rug.
This particular rug had a few issues that made it an interesting case study: 1) it had been cleaned several times with a dry-compound cleaning agent which had left a great deal of residue and yellowing in the ivory; 2) it had multiple pet stains and dye bleed of the blue in these areas; and 3) this rug is a BLEEDER – it tested “not colorfast” with our hot water quick test. (View my post on dye migration for the link to the video on how to properly test for colorfast versus fugitive dyes.)
We opted to stabilize the dyes with Bridgepoint’s Dye-Loc, then used a Hydramaster Dri-master hand tool to control the amount of moisture during rinsing the shampoo and extracting , and followed up with using the Dri-Eaz Airpath to speed up the dry time significantly.
Blue is one of the most difficult colors to strip in a rug to try to correct prior damage. Our goal was to clean the rug safely, without causing additional damage to the textile. This gave us the opportunity to show how to handle a rug “bleeder” and also how to handle silk rugs in general – from cleaning to grooming. Silk rugs tend to create more problems than wool rugs for professional cleaners, so giving them a proper good bath for cleaning often is not an option.
This was not an investment grade rug at all, but it was a good example of a commonly found silk blend rug in homes in this region. And it gave us the opportunity to talk about damage inevitably caused by pets on rugs, and some tricks of the trade to help you have success in cleaning rugs with multiple “danger” signs.
Off to Atlanta next… we’ve sold out the house (again!) – should be another fantastic group.
Thanks to Interlink for being our host, and to all of the professionals who took their day to come learn with us.
- Lisa
Enjoyed reading the post. Yesterday, we picked up a silk blend rug from one of our Macon rug cleaning clients. A cat has marked the rug. It’s a large 8×10 rug with square patches of solid colors throughout. Main color in the rug is brown. I have a hard time distinguishing between silk and mercenized cotton. My concern is pit washing the rug. As of now, we are planning to apply Molecular Modifier to both side of rug to let the enzymes take care of the odor problem. I’m afraid of changing the texture is we submerse. What do you think?
- Cory
You need to fiber test it, and dye test it. If it is “artificial” silk – rayon or mercerized cotton – you will have problems. You also – because a pet has urinated on the rug, WILL have dye bleed as a result (pet stains will make the dye in that affected area release – even when you properly stabilize the rug for cleaning). Cat odor is the worst to remove, the absolute worst. I’d suggest Masterblend’s Anti-Allergen deoderizing solution because it does not have the heavy fragrance that other tough odor removers – like skunk odor remover – has. Nothing is worse than pet odors, except pet odors covered up with perfume!
I would also handle this rug as you would tricky upholstery, clean both sides with a hand tool, and that will minimize the distortion. Be sure your stokes go WITH the nap and not against. Send me some photos and I can see if I can offer some more specific advise. rugwarrior@gmail.com – please put RUG in the subject line.
- Lisa