Area Rug Care Archives - Rug Cleaning Hinsdale IL | Koshgarian Rug Cleaners, Inc.

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Rotation – To insure even wear, your rug should be rotated once a year. Depending on the traffic, the rotation may vary from six months to two years.

Varying the Pathways – When furniture is placed on the rug, it creates a natural pathway that is used frequently. Move the furniture on the rug so walkways are changed. This will stop the damage of a wear pattern in just one place.

Vacuuming – Oriental and Area rugs, like most carpeting, should be vacuumed on a regular basis to remove dirt and restore life to the fibers. Be sure not to vacuum the fringe with your beater bar! Use the end of a vacuum hose from a canister vacuum.

Shags and other longer-pile rugs – These types of rugs can get caught in the rotating beater bar of your vacuum cleaner. It’s best to use an attachment without one or flip the rug over and vacuum the bottom.

Padding – A quality pad used under your rug helps protect it from dirt, wear and slippage.

Washing – Having your Oriental and Area rugs professionally cleaned will ensure it is done properly and with care to protect your investment.

Edle Perserteppiche - Stapel The fringe on an oriental rug is an iconic trait. Occasionally, some people cut the fringe off their rug due to staining, yellowing, damage, or wearing down. Unfortunately, this DIY home remedy will cause more harm than good – their beloved rug will begin to unravel and fall apart right before their very eyes. If the rug is not properly sewn or overcast to lock in the ends, the pile will simply slip out – either from vacuuming or just from walking across it.

Why is the rug unraveling?

Hand knotted rugs have an inner foundation comprised of horizontal & vertical yarns. The horizontal yarns are called WEFTS and the vertical yarns are called WARPS. These vertical warp yarns start as the fringe on one end and they run all the way through the rug and come out as the fringe on the opposite end. The knots, also known as the pile, creates the beautiful, plush surface area with thousands of wool knots tied to the warp yarns. The horizontal wefts lock in those individual rows of pile knots while the knotted fringes help to hold the whole rug together.

What should you do with your soiled, worn fringe?

White fringe will easily show the dirty, grimy build-up of soil on your rug. The same soil that is on your fringe is also in the rest of your rug. However, the rug can hold pounds of dirt per square foot before appearing dirty. When you start seeing your fringe looking discolored and dingy, your rug and the fringe could use a good professional rug cleaning. You may feel like your fringe is past the point of no return with major soiling and staining – but you may be surprised how clean it will come with a good cleaning. For worn fringe, we may be able to give it a good trim to even up the edges. We also offer fringe repair services.

What if you really want those fringes gone?

If you are determined to remove the fringes, please let a professional handle the task for you. The ends can be sewn by hand to lock in the pile prior to cutting the fringes off. Keep in mind that any repair that permanently alters the original rug, such as removing the fringes, will generally decrease the re-sale value.

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Now that the kids are back to school and a “normal” schedule is in place, it’s time to turn attention to parts of the house that have been neglected. With summer barbecues & playing children bringing in dirt and grime almost to an end, start by having your rugs professionally cleaned. Beautiful, clean rugs are easier to enjoy throughout the colder weather months and will help to ease allergies as the house is more closed up at this time of the year.

At Koshgarian Rug Cleaners, we provide complete fine area rug repair and cleaning to extend the life and value of your investment or family heirloom! We take pride in our craftsmanship and our ability to provide you with excellent customer service.

rug_dusting Dusting is the most important stage in area rug cleaning! Anyone who skips this step is simply not cleaning your rug properly. There’s been one study that has shown that an 8ft x 10ft rug can hold as much as 75 pounds of soil & debris deep down in the fibers before it will even look or appear dirty! How much dirt do you think your rug is hiding?

Why is it important?

Wool is a porous fiber, much like human hair. Similar to hair, pollutants from the air, dust, dirt and other grime can make a rug’s pile dull. More than this though fine sand-like particles of dirt and dust accumulate within the rug. These particles are very abrasive act as sand paper causing damage to the fibers with every step.

When water is added to the mix the layer of dirt and dust become cement-like exaggerating the problem and can easily cause the foundation of the rug to become brittle and break.

What kind of particles are removed from “dusting”?

rug_cleaning The “dust” removed by rug dusting can include a mixture of many things most commonly:

Allergens
Dirt/Soil
Dead Skin Cells
Worn Rug Fibers
Food Particles
Pet Dander

Why isn’t just vacuuming good enough?

Vacuums work great on the loose weave of your carpet, and are great for maintaining the health of your rug between professional cleanings. But vacuuming will only remove the debris that is on the surface. Even the strongest vacuums are ineffective at removing soils deep in the tight weave of Oriental and other specialty area rugs. Continue to vacuum your rug to keep it looking great, but every rug needs a good dusting and professional cleaning every couple years to keep it healthy.

DID YOU KNOW that choosing a wool carpet or rug for your home is both good news… and sometimes bad?

The good news is choosing wool, which is a high quality fiber but not really that popular because of the higher price, means your carpet or rug will last longer, look better and retain value.

The bad news is choosing wool means you won’t see as much dirt on it, and so you may not vacuum or clean it that often — which means your nice, wool carpet or rug may prematurely wear out.

Why is that?

Most consumers base their cleaning frequencies on appearance. That can be dangerous for any carpet or rug, or any surface, for that matter. With wool, the physical makeup of the fiber has the characteristic of hiding dirt, especially those tiny, gritty particles that wear on the fibers. You might compare this to putting sand on a piece of Plexiglas and walking on it. The sand will act as an abrasive, damaging the surface.

While wool fibers won’t damage as quickly as other fibers, such as nylon, polyester or olefin, any type of dirt or soil on them isn’t good news at all.

What you should do is talk to a cleaning professional about cleaning based on frequency, not appearance. Get your cleaning scheduled on a regular basis, and remember that not every situation is the same. Your home may not need as frequent cleaning as another; that’s why a professional opinion is smart.

Yes, wool is good… or baaaad… depending on how you treat it.

professional-carpet-cleaning copy Proper vacuuming is the easiest and most effective way to keep your carpet clean. It may come as a surprise that something as simple as regular vacuuming can also have the largest impact on the air you breathe. Removing loose soil while it remains on the carpet surface prevents dirt from being ground into the carpet pile and can help preserve your carpet. Keep in mind green cleaning starts with vacuuming.

How to vacuum

On carpet, use slow, repetitive front-to-back motions in an overlapping sequence. A quick once over doesn’t do much. On the other hand, don’t press down or make too many passes over the same spot. Instead, move slightly to the left or right about every four strokes. To get the most out of your vacuuming regime, remember these few easy tips:

– When vacuuming, don’t ignore those corners and crevices where dust builds

– “Top-down” cleaning saves you the step of vacuuming again after dusting. Dust blinds, windowsills, and furniture surfaces first and then vacuum away any fallen dust

– Remember to remove and replace or empty vacuum bags when they are half to two-thirds full

Understanding the attachments

Attachments allow vacuums to do more than clean carpets. They can tackle many other projects such as cleaning bookshelves and other items that tend to collect dust. Your particular vacuum may feature some of the following attachments:

– The all-purpose or universal brush works well on books and shelves

– The crevice tool (long and thin) reaches into narrow slots and corners

– The dusting brush details items that need a softer touch

– The radiator brush cleans radiators and narrow spaces

– The upholstery nozzle is good for vacuuming chairs, sofas, cushions, drapes, mattresses, and fabric furniture covers

Setting the right vacuuming frequency

As a rule of thumb, you should vacuum at least once a week with a CRI Seal of Approval/Green Label vacuum cleaner. However, the more foot traffic over your carpet, the more you need to vacuum. The general formula is:

– Vacuum daily in high-traffic or pet areas

– Vacuum twice weekly in medium-traffic areas

– Vacuum weekly in light-traffic areas, using attachments at carpet edges

Vacuum care tips

For the best cleaning results, periodically inspect your vacuum to keep it in tiptop shape and functioning properly.

– Keep the instructions that came with your vacuum and refer to them periodically

– Keep hoses and attachments free from obstructions. Most vacuums that are discarded as nonfunctional often are only clogged somewhere in the unit. Learn where these likely places are from the manufacturer’s instructions

– Grip the handle, not the hose

– Keep brushes clean (for example, remove tangled hair) and replace them when worn. Typically, worn brushes are stiff, and they cause surface texture change on carpet

– Empty containers or replace bags when half full. (Just as you would not top off a car’s gas tank until it overflows, you would not want your vacuum bag to spill over)

Look for rough edges or bent metal on your machine that can snag carpet

12742295_614691255338609_6741146856565253551_n A rug’s pile refers to the density of fibers. The pile height or thickness of the rug and the length of the fibers in the weave combined determine the pile of a rug. They can range from a flat/short pile or long and shaggy.

Pile Height To Consider
Pile heights vary: less than 1/4″ (low); 1/4″ to 1/2″ (medium); 1/2″ to 3/4″ (plush); some shags can be even longer.

High Traffic Areas
Thick pile does not necessarily equate to quality. Some very fine rugs are thin. That said, high-traffic areas can benefit from rugs with some density.

Short and Durable
Shorter pile rugs will, as a rule, last a bit longer than longer piles. Low pile rugs are extremely easy to maintain because they are usually more durable and thus simpler to clean.

Think About Furniture
Longer-pile rugs can feel softer, but their threads and fibers are prone to twisting, matting, or being crushed. The legs of furniture will more easily leave indentations. Thinner rugs are better for dining rooms because the low pile makes the movement of chairs easy.

Proofs In The Pile
High pile rugs are softer and definitely fluffier looking than low pile rugs. They have longer threads, giving them a gorgeously luxuriant appearance.

Clean with Care
Shags and other longer-pile rugs can get caught in the rotating beater bar of your vacuum cleaner. Either turn it off or use an attachment without one. When in doubt, contact a professional rug cleaning company and they can point you in the right direction.

Blog

Tips on How to Care for your Oriental and Area Rugs

Fringe Problems

Back To School – Refresh Your Home With Professional Rug Cleaning

Loose Rug Cleaning: Importance of Rug Dusting

Cleaning Wool Carpet and Rug: Good News? Or Baaaad?

Vacuuming 101

How to vacuum

Understanding the attachments

Setting the right vacuuming frequency

Vacuum care tips

Rug Pile: A Quick User’s Guide

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