My last post showed a rug that was damaged by not being attentive with a piece of dusting equipment on a Turkish rug.

The technician had not been careful with a heavy piece of equipment, and paid the price.

He was not trained by his instructors on how to keep from letting that happen when you are not paying attention to what you are doing. (See in the comments of that thread how to use Tyvek to protect from that damage.)

In the same week I was sent a photo of this nice wool rug that a professional cleaner bled.

Front side - red dyes have bled.

Back side - red dyes have bled.

Now…if there is ONE thing I’d like you to take away from this post, it is this:

HIGH HEAT IS BAD FOR WOOL RUGS!

(It’s also bad for silk, FYI.)

Think about your clothing for a minute…how many items do you wash in HOT water, and put in a HOT dryer?

Some, I know… but most, no.

Why?

Because many of the fibers – especially NATURAL fibers – have a problem with that. Loss of color, shrinking, loss of finishing and texture.

When was the last time you took your nice wool sweater and washed it in HOT water, and dried it on HIGH heat?

Now, wool rugs are different from wool fabrics in construction – but many of the characteristics, and risks, are the same.

And with this rug, the cleaner had two runners to clean. He used an approved WoolSafe shampoo, dye stabilizing solution, wash pit set-up, and truck mount with a water claw as well.

First rug – no problem.

Second rug, as the heat kicked in on his truck mount (he had set it low to begin with, and it increased over time)… suddenly a problem. The dyes bled. Despite the dye stabilizing solution.

He was working under two false assumptions here:

1) That dye stabilizing solutions “set” dyes indefinitely. They don’t. They give you a window of opportunity to clean, and if you have a rug with dyes that are not colorfast, that window is VERY small. You gotta wash it quick.

2) That HEAT is okay for wool. For oriental rugs, it is not. One of the reasons I test a rug’s dye strength with a HOT water test is because I want to know IMMEDIATELY if there is any chance at all a rug will bleed on me. I wash with cold, but I test with hot – to be safe. Sometimes rugs can bleed right away…sometimes it takes some time, so you need to know what you are working with, and use the right solutions to strengthen the dye-fiber bond during your thorough wash process.

Now…this professional cleaner was told by one of his instructors that wool is okay at up to 140 degrees of heat, so he was not worried…until it bled that is.

This was an IICRC-instructor who told him this. An instructor who is not a rug cleaner, but apparently gives some advice on rugs. I’m not sure why.

But, you see, with wool wall-to-wall installed carpeting, using heat to clean is commonplace. But generally you will not find in a home, installed wool carpeting with bright reds, blues, and other vivid acid dyes as you will with oriental rugs, or specialty fine fabrics.

In the latest cover story of Cleanfax Magazine, I mention several things that this post is focusing on: 1) the shortcomings in today’s training in the fields of rug cleaning and upholstery cleaning, and 2) that I believe someone well-trained in upholstery and fine fabric care would be a BETTER oriental rug cleaner than someone well-trained in residential carpet cleaning.

Here’s the article, which I co-authored with Jim Pemberton (an expert in upholstery and fine fabric care):

Cleanfax – Sept 2010 Cover

Homes with nice investment-grade textiles on their floors, almost always also have investment-grade fabric on their furnishings. They go hand in hand.

And with fine furnishings, or oriental rugs, there needs to be an EXCELLENT eye and hand for testing and inspection. Fiber tests, dye tests, construction identification, and inspecting for any pre-existing conditions that might hamper your cleaning results…or lead to a cleaning disaster. You need to be able to spot these BEFORE they become problems.

Something shared with a client before cleaning is EDUCATION, and after cleaning is an EXCUSE.

The more time you put into the front end with your attention to detail, the less you will spend on the back end trying to clean up a mess, or pay for one.

There is a serious shortcoming in our training today, at least in these specialty niches of oriental rugs and fine fabrics.

My hope is that making a post like my previous one (showing how a Rug Badger could damage a rug if you are NOT careful), and this one (showing how a mistaken belief about heat not being bad, and dye stabilizer being a “fix”), will help keep anyone in the rug cleaning world to be just a little bit more attentive to what they are doing.

This might be a 1 in 100 chance of happening to a rug cleaner…but I can tell you…being that one that it does happen to, really sucks.

Just ask the guys who handled these recent rug disasters.

Hope you enjoy the article!

- Lisa

Rugs shouldn't smell like farm animals.

#1) PET PUDDLES

With pet urine, this hits a wool rug, penetrates those face fibers, and gets absorbed deep into the innermost cotton warp and weft foundation threads. Ever run for hours and take off those sweaty cotton socks?  Then you know how much moisture cotton can hold.  A LOT.

So lots of urine absorbed into the middle of your rug, it’s not good news.

Specifically, besides the odor, pet urine can create dye migration or loss that is permanent, as well as yellowing that often is permanent damage as well. (Rug owners are shocked when I explain their $10,000 rug is no longer worth that because of some puppy puddles. They would never pay full price for a bridal gown with a urine stain on it… yet they seem unaware of the devaluation from urine stains on their rugs.) It also, if left unaddressed for months, can lead to dry rot and a nice big hole where the problem is.

Surface cleaning a rug in the home with a portable or truck mount is only cleaning the surface and not the MIDDLE where the problem is. (By the way, cleaning rugs in the home, especially wool rugs, is a huge NO-NO. We will get into that in detail in a future post, right now we are talking odors only.)

Rugs with odors, especially pet odors, need to be WASHED.

Urine contaminated rugs need to be soaked and washed.

Repeat rinsing and squeegeeing to remove the urine.

If you do not use thorough rug washing methods, you will not remove the source of the odor. You will lessen it. Maybe some will use a fragrance to try to cover it up (ever get a whiff of a sweaty man using cologne to hide it? yeah… it’s not much better having a “floral” pet urine smell in your rug…). These are not solutions to the problem.

Moral of the story is – pet problem, wash the rug.  And use a professional for it, otherwise the rug could have more damage done than the puppy did to it.

If you have a pet accident – some tips on what to do right now.

#2) FLOODS

Rugs that get improperly wet can get a musty, moldy odor as mildew sets in. We see this mostly with rugs not prepared properly for storage, and the unit gets damp, or has a flood.  Or, an unskilled cleaner does not verify the rug is 100% dry (by using a moisture probe) and rolls up a rug that feels dry, but isn’t.

Neighboring planters that leak are also a BIG creator of water damage to rugs, because again that innermost foundation is made up of absorbent cotton, and it sucks up that water you spill over sometimes, and it leads to mildew, dye bleeding, and over time dry rot.  I’ve seen a rug literally have a big hole crumble apart from long term water exposure. In fact, here’s one:

Rug got wet in a storage unit, and fell apart.

Rugs improperly exposed to water need to be properly washed to remove the contaminants from those foundation fibers and the face fibers. If you step in a puddle, you don’t wring the sock, wipe it off, dry it, and it’s clean enough to wear again. (At least I hope you don’t do that!) You wash it.

Same with rugs. You need to soak the rug in the proper sanitizing solution, and then thoroughly clean it. This needs to be handled by professional rug cleaners who are experienced at handling flood-affected contents, and bringing them back to pre-loss condition.

#3) BAD LATEX:

With some tufted rugs (these are the rugs that you do NOT see the same design on the back as the front because instead you see a material backing) – there can be some odor issues.

Due to a lack of consistent quality control, some latex used to hold these cheaply made rugs together can end up souring, and not be properly cured. This gives off a VERY bad smell that is best described as a combination of sweaty old socks, rubber, and livestock.

Nice, huh?  Here’s one of these culprits, a tufted rug from India:

Smelly tufted rug from India. RUN!!!

When you are looking at a new tufted rug, and it smells bad when you put your nose to it, then just RUN! It is a “Rug To Run From.”

When you try to clean it to make it smell better, it will get WORSE. The water activates the odor-causing elements more.

I would say about 10-15% of the tufted rugs we see from India have this problem. And I always tell my clients to take the rugs IMMEDIATELY back to the store they bought it and demand a replacement (that doesn’t smell) or their money back. This is a manufacturing flaw.

I have read some comments from retailers that say the odor is nothing to worry about. It’s not “dangerous.”

Do you think someone might say this in order to keep people from getting refunds?

Yeah, I think so too.

Here’s what I know… when something smells really bad, my natural instinct is to move away quickly and make a really ugly face.

kinda like this....

Your body does that to PROTECT you. If my nose tells me to “get away” – then I know it is harming me.

What is really scary is that many of the tufted rugs I see on the market today are made for kids. They have goofy designs on them, and some are cute… but the ones with the odors, I certainly would not want any kids around those.

Cleaning does NOT improve this odor. So watch out.

There you have it – 3 typical smelly rug sources, and a little insight on what can and can’t be done with them.

I think I’ll go out now and get some fresh air…

- Lisa

They are a piece of a weaver’s life that you get to enjoy. A piece of art that will live centuries (if it is properly cared for).

Commodity rugs are mass produced today to feed a need of the fact that many people have hard floors in their homes, and they want a nice looking area rug, but they do not want to pay a fortune for it.

As with anything produced today, there can be items that are truly a great value, and others that are not worth your hard earned money. And viscose rugs are one of these areas where the great deal is just not worth it.

Viscose (also known as rayon) is in my opinion one of the absolute worst fibers to ever choose to use in something that people will walk on. Here are just a few reasons why:

Rayon/viscose is a weak fiber that distorts and breaks.

In strength tests, wool fibers can be bent up to 10,000 times before it breaks. Silk is also very strong at 2,000.

What is rayon? 70.

Yes 70. So as you can guess, walking on it becomes quite stressful for a viscose rug. Also, washing the rug (where you are required to do a little scrubbing) can be very stressful.

Rayon/viscose, because it is made from cotton by-products and wood pulp fibers, tends to show soil very quickly. It also yellows with time and can have a yellow/brown cast when it gets wet. (If you are a professional rug cleaner, you will want to give the rug a vinegar rinse, and dry face down after water removal so that you can lessen this browning and wick any that occurs to the back side of the rug.)

Another weakness of viscose rugs is the dye quality. They easily bleed.

Viscose rugs have dyes that are rarely colorfast.

In this case, a cold water flood in a home resulted in these dyes migrating all throughout this viscose rug. This is not reversible.

A flood, improper cleaning, or even a simple spill can bleed viscose rug dyes.

Why would manufacturers use a fiber so unsuitable for a rug in their inventory?

Simple. Because it is CHEAP.

They want the look of silk, but they do not want to actually use silk. They turn away a far superior fiber that will last a century, and exchange it for one that might have one solid year of looking good.

For professional rug cleaners, they are trained to identify rayon/viscose rugs and to run from them. They are one of the few rugs that end up looking worse after cleaning than better. They distort, the dyes can bleed, they fade, and they look shaggy over time.

For rug buyers, if you want the look of silk, I would suggest seeking out a lower grade silk rug over anything made of rayon or viscose. The taller the face fiber height, the lesser quality a silk rug. High quality silk rugs have a high knot count and a very low nap. Here is a very nice Qum silk rug, woven in Iran.

If you want the look of silk, then buy a real silk rug.

Viscose rugs are what we in the industry label as “disposable rugs” because they have a short life under normal foot traffic, and then they end up in the landfill and you have to go buy another one.

If all you want is a disposable rug, then go get one. They are cheap. But you can also find some great deals on wool rugs, which are fantastic for the floor and will not give you any of the headaches that viscose does. And they will last you a much, MUCH longer time.

- Lisa

Technically “oriental” refers to “the East” (the Orient) and rugs woven over on the other side of this great planet of ours. Academics use “occidental rug” to refer to those rugs woven in the western hemisphere, such as Navajo rugs.

I know that technically I should distinguish between oriental and occidental – but I don’t. I’ve never used the term occidental with a client, ever. They think I’m saying accidental rug with a pompous “oh” instead of the “ax” – so I keep it simple. Hand woven is “oriental rug” to me – and this is what I see in my head:

Loom from Castle Cleaning in Colorado.

I see the hand work that has twisted every single knot around those warp threads. I see the sheared wool, the dyeing process, the spinning process, the months (and sometimes years) of creation time.

I see a piece of someone’s life in front of me. A part of someone’s soul in a piece of art now place in your home for you to enjoy.

A hand woven rug makes me smile.

Machine woven rugs? Tufted rugs with material backing? They just have no heart to me. No soul. No love.

I have loved many, many wonderful rugs, brand new and some centuries old. None have been machine made. It’s like really loving GOOD food, and having to go to McDonald’s – there is just no pleasure in a knock off. At least not for me. It’s one of the joys – and curses – of knowing so much about a craft … when you really appreciate the art, you are drawn to the well-made pieces.

And I appreciate those who in a world full of commodity, cheap, machine-made product, will choose to buy a hand crafted rug. I appreciate those who value and buy a REAL rug. (I am still very nice to everyone who buys area rugs also – I just enjoy the hand woven rugs more.)

I received an email today from a peer who received a brand new hand woven rug from a client. She has had the rug a few days, and noticed that a damp cloth makes the red dye transfer to it. The peer was asking me for some advice – here is the rug from Iran:

Wool hand woven rug.

With brand new rugs, it is possible that they have a certain amount of “excess dye” in the fibers. This washes away in the first cleaning (some rugs are washed thoroughly before being sold and these do not have this situation).

If the rug is in an area where there may be spills, then they might pose a problem, because the dye may move and migrate to other areas. So this is what I suggested to my peer. Not to wash it fully, but to rinse the tips of the fibers.

Rugs, especially oriental rugs, should be given a bath when cleaned. This is the recommended thorough way of cleaning rugs. This should be done in a rug plant, because thorough dusting, the wash, and complete drying are required. Many rugs have dyes that are not colorfast, so these professionals are trained to stabilize the dyes during the cleaning process.

But with this rug, a bath is not needed. The issue is not soil, but excess dye. If you are a professional rug cleaner, these are the steps I’d recommend:

1) Use your Drimaster tool. This is the PERFECT tool because you want to be able to rinse the fibers thoroughly and IMMEDIATELY extract without the water moving to other areas and potentially making the red dye move to neighboring areas. (If you do not own a Drimaster tool you can find it on the Hydramaster site.)

2) You can adjust the amount of water flow, and you can see the water through the viewer to see if it is red or simply clear. Make short strokes WITH the grain of the wool fibers several times, and then turn off the water flow and follow up with a dry stroke to pick up any remaining moisture.

(To determine the GRAIN of the fibers, pet the rug as you would your dog. You will know when you are going WITH the grain or AGAINST it – and you always want your tool strokes or brushing strokes to be WITH the grain.)

3) Keep the rug out flat, and dry it quickly. If you use a Dri-Eaz AirPath, it will dry in minutes.  Set it beside the rug rather than over it so as not to leave any impressions from the airmover legs.

4) Take a damp towel to verify that no more dye transfers as before.

It is not unusual to have “excess dye” in the fibers of a new rug. This wool is very thoroughly dyed those beautiful colors, and just as with new sweaters in the laundry, some dye comes off in the first cleaning. (Just as your grandmother used to add vinegar to her wash to help stabilize and protect neighboring fabrics from absorbing this migrated dye – many rug plants use vinegar also as a rug dye stabilizing agent in their facilities. Old world ways in new world operations.)

The reason I like this “surface rinse” of a brand new rug is because it takes away that excess dye (which might give a rug owner problems if there is a spill), but also because even though the rug is “new” it is not necessarily clean. Dust settles in the store, some have people who walk on them in the store, and the shipping and transport from overseas is not necessarily the cleanest experience. The thorough rinse can remove surface contaminants as well as that excess dye.

If you are a proud owner of a brand new wonderfully hand woven rug, and you find a little dye coming off on a damp towel and you are concerned – now you know what to do.  A surface rinse with a new piece of technology that keeps the rug from having to be given a bath just to remove a little bit of extra dye.

Some rugs last for centuries – so they are not a part of our lives; we are a part of theirs. I hope you enjoy your new (or old) woven rug for many years to come.

- Lisa

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

Filthy rug may be hiding SECRET DANGERS!

What could be lurking here? Plenty of pre-existing dangers – old stains, old dye migration, old repairs, abrash, sunfade.

You could be the BEST rug care specialist in your city, and yet with this rug, you could be unable to catch any of these items above in your pre-inspection.  Why?  Because the rug is friggin’ FILTHY!

Couple things to point out – one is, when someone allows their rug to get really dirty, they don’t care about it.  They are putting off cleaning it because they don’t especially enjoy paying to have it cleaned. They don’t realize that the abrasive soil is cutting the fibers of this silk rug and is causing it to prematurely wear down.

People often falsely say that cleaning a rug causes damage – when actually NOT cleaning it causes damage.   Think about a little bit of sand and grit getting into the bottom of your shoe, and how that pokes, scratches, and hurts over time.  Put that grit into a rug that is walked on day in and day out, and can you imagine that on wool or silk fibers? Of course it causes damage.

If you have the rug improperly cleaned, for examples having a wool or silk rug steam cleaned at high heat – I’ll grant you that this cleaning would in fact damage the rug more than help it.  But properly cleaning – a wash – of a well made rug with strong dyes only helps it to last longer.

But back to the filthy rug.  What if this level of dirt was on top of this rug right here?

Red dye has bled on the top side of this rug only from an old spill.

If this rug was caked with dark gray soil as the rug at the beginning of the post is, you would likely not be able to see this damage until the rug was clean and it stuck out like a sore thumb.  Then the rug’s owner might incorrectly believe you created the damage with your wash.

(One tip for you – if your wash process has bled a rug, then it will have bled it ALL over the rug, and not just in one small isolated area. If you’ve made an error, it will show up throughout the rug.)

If a rug is heavily soiled, it is not within your power to do a proper pre-inspection.  That’s like having you do a home inspection but locking the door and not allowing you inside.  You cannot SEE the conditions.

This means a comment needs to be placed on the invoice that states “Due to extreme soiling, I am unable to note any pre-existing stains, dye migration, sunfade, or discolorations on this rug. I will use extreme care in cleaning this rug, but cannot be held responsible for any pre-existing conditions uncovered by my thorough cleaning process.”

If the rug owner refuses to release you from liability on this point, then I’d suggest you turn the job away. Clearly they have something to hide – literally. And rug owners who allow their rugs to get this soiled do not appreciate “clean” and do not appreciate those in the cleaning profession.

They tend to be the most demanding customers who will criticize the price, the turnaround time, and the results. Why? Because they resent the fact that they have to pay someone to clean up their dirt.

Clients who value clean, and strive for a healthy home, glady hire skilled professionals to deliver that service to their homes and their rugs. It is part of their routine to provide the best environment for themselves, their families, and their household investments from their flooring to their textiles.

It’s true that sometimes a homeowner may slip and let something get dirtier than they should have. How you’ll know if they are a good client to have will be how they respond to your waiver for a heavily soiled rug.  If the response is “of course, no problem” – the customer is a keeper.

If the answer is “no way” – then you need to thank them for letting you know that they are not someone you want to invest any time and effort into.  You can politely refer them to someone else, and thank them for keeping you from getting a nightmare customer-induced migraine.

- Lisa

My attitude toward pets is pretty much the same I have with kids … I love them when they are OTHER people’s.

More than 60% of homes have pets.  More and more homes these days have hard surfaces, and of course rugs. And – rugs and pets simply don’t mix.

Here’s a shame right here … and I’m sure it’s a sweet dog (one that would not be living long in my home):

A very expensive Pet Toilet.

There seems to be this belief in some pet owners that urine and fecal matter consistently spread on rugs – and in their home on the livingroom carpeting - because it’s from a pet means… it’s okay!  Ignore the fact that when you visit their home your eyes water and your nose crinkles up in disgust – it’s okay, it’s just Fluffy’s accident.

(I’m sure Fluffy knew exactly what she was doing … it’s only an accident when you accidentally step in it.)

Here’s the problem with long term urine damage – besides the fact that it’s creating an open air toilet in your home’s living quarters – it’s bad for the rug. It leads to: 1) dye migration/bleeding; 2) dye loss/fading; and 3) dry rot if left unattended too long.

The urine, because it’s warm and acidic, penetrates the rug’s own acid-based dyes, causing many times a permanent discoloration. (TIP: if you love your pets more than your rugs, buy a lot of YELLOW rugs)

But it also penetrates the rug face fibers (most of the time wool) and sinks into the inner foundation threads of the rug (most of the time absorbent cotton) which then leads to mildew and dry rot.  If you pull up a rug (like the one pictured in this blog) and you see large pet stains on the backside, and when you knock it with your knuckles it sounds like hollow wood – then you’ve got dry rot.  During the wash you may risk the whole area deteriorating and creating a large hole.

A rug that someone paid thousands of dollars for… suddenly worth nothing.  But I know… he’s so cuuuuuute!

Please – if you have collectible rugs, and pets you love, please store the rugs or give them to someone who can enjoy them without allowing it to become a toilet.  It’s heartbreaking to see a rug that is meant to last multiple lifetimes ruined after a year of misuse and abuse.

I know there are trained pets out there, but I have heard the shock of “but she never does that INSIDE the house!” so many times to know that dogs will be dogs… and they can go wherever they want outside, so why not inside too? I guess it’s part of the collateral damage of those who try to force animals to be people, and then wonder why their health is not as healthy as it could be. 

At the very least … recommend to your pet-owning and rug-owning clients to have their homes cleaned several times a year, for their own health, the health of their pets & family, and the health of the rug ( to take care of damage before it becomes too severe to mitigate).

I do love dogs … I just love them outside. (They seem to like it better there too… we’re the crazy ones who choose to live in a closed up house in the middle of a gated community!)

- Lisa

http://www.viddler.com/explore/RugCareCentral/videos/29/