How to Properly Clean Your Antique and Oriental Rugs

Rugs add a sense of warmth and charm to any room. They pull together various design elements in your home décor and add personality to any space. But as most of you know, rugs are very expensive. Whether you purchased one from a store or inherited your great grandmother’s, you want to show those antique and oriental rugs a lot of tender love and care. However, life can sometimes get in the way. Pets and kids and day-to-day life can take a toll on your beautiful rugs. Just as you should clean your carpet, you should also clean your rugs. They can be an even bigger breeding ground for dirt and bacteria if they are in high traffic areas of your home. But before you take your rug outside and start beating it (please don’t do that), consider calling a professional to clean it for you.

Here’s what you can expect from Langenwalter when you schedule an appointment to have your rugs cleaned. First, our trained technicians will carefully inspect your oriental or antique rugs for color bleeding, tears, holes, dye fading, abrasions and pet contamination. Our technicians take very detailed notes. They will document everything on the Area Rug Cleaning Inspection Sheet before the process even begins.

At Langenwalter we use a device called a RugBadger. This device allows us to clean deep into the back of the rug. The RugBadger will remove embedded particles before cleaning, including dirt, dust, sand, allergens and hair. The RugBadger will shake any dry, heavy, or damaging soil and sediments loose, before introducing any water. Whatever is trapped in the foundation and in between the rug fibers is going to come out. Your rugs will be treated with the RugBadger before any steam cleaning even occurs.

After your rugs have been treated with the RugBadger, each rug will be steam cleaned with the appropriate method and technique. Different rugs require different methods of cleaning, especially antique rugs. Your technician has the training and the cleaning education to know which method is best for each rug. All of the excess moisture is extracted and a rinse is applied to return the rug fibers to their natural state. After the excess moisture is removed, the rugs are dried in a state-of-the-art drying facility. Every rug must be completely dry before the final inspection.

The final inspection guarantees that your rugs have been properly cleaned and are completely dry.  Once the rugs have passed a final inspection they will be ready to head back to you, fresh and clean. Interested in learning more about the rug cleaning process? Check out the video below. Are you ready to schedule a cleaning? Give us a call at 317-876-9944 or visit our website today!