dirty truth about rugs

DIRTY TRUTHabout rugs

The

Don’t get caught holding — and owning —a rug you didn’t want. Protect yourself

with proper cleaning.

Don’t get caught holding — and owning —a rug you didn’t want. Protect yourself

with proper cleaning.

32 CM/Cleanfax® APRIL 2011 CLEANFAX.COM

By Lisa Wagner, CRS

Rugs should be regularly cleaned.But not cleaned in the home.

Why not? There are two main reasons.The first is that you are not getting the

rug thoroughly cleaned, and the secondis that — in most cases — you are caus-ing long-term damage to those woventextiles.

I receive, on a weekly basis, technicalhelp requests from cleaners or insurancecase help requests from adjustersregarding damaged rugs.

The rugs involved range in valuefrom $100 to $100,000. The cause ofthe problems inevitably comes down toa lack of knowledge about the rugsbeing cleaned and how to clean themproperly.

More rug disasters occur from clean-ers treating natural fiber woven rugslike synthetic installed wall-to-wall car-pet than anything else. They are usingthe wrong cleaning techniques, toolsand solutions for wool, silk, cotton orrayon rugs.

Most carpet cleaning professionals Iknow are quality and service conscious.They want to do the best for their clientsand give the best care for their clients’belongings.

They clean the rugs on-site becausemany simply do not understand thetruth about on-site rug cleaning, that itoften does more harm than good to wovenrugs.

No dustingWhen a cleaner does not pre-vacuum

before cleaning a room of carpet withhot water extraction, many insist thepower of their equipment makes thatstep not really necessary.

When a cleaner does not dust a rugbefore cleaning it in the home, they arenot really cleaning it because most of theembedded soil is not being removedwith their process.

A wool woven rug can hold pounds ofsoil and grit before it begins to lookdirty. Those of us who operate rugcleaning plants will always shock ourclients when we show them how muchdirt we can shake and beat out of theirrug before cleaning it.

This is a critical step in rug cleaningthat is missed with on location rugcleaning because this soil needs to bebeaten and shaken out of the foundationfibers, and not simply run over the topwith a vacuum cleaner.

When this soil is left behind, and themoisture from the cleaning process isadded, the grit that is nudged betweenthe warps and wefts of the rug essen-tially becomes mud into those cottonfoundation fibers.

Because on-site rug cleaners are usu-ally more worried about getting the rugtoo wet for too long instead of getting itreally clean, they end up only cleaningthe surface of the rug’s fibers, and leavea mix of soil and chemical residue

behind throughout the foundation ofthe rug.

If they choose to use encapsulation prod-ucts to try to remove the “grey look” thattheir cleaning created — due to remainingembedded soil at the base of the wool fibers— they end up leaving even more residuenow at the top of those fibers as well.

Resoiling is now almost guaranteed.In more serious cases, because the

embedded soil can have a drying effectto the cotton foundation fibers, this canlead to brittleness, something like “dryrot,” where warps and wefts can crackand break. The rug begins to feel stiff tohandle and then eventually falls apartfrom the inside out.

There is a better way and a best wayto approach this challenge.

• Better way: Rugs that are beingsurface cleaned absolutely needto be dusted to get as much soilas possible out before it gets wet.While you cannot create adusting area in a client’s homewith your beater bar vacuum orprofessional duster, you can inyour office or garage mini-plant.Beating the dry soil out of the rugprior to your off-site surfacecleaning dramatically improveswhat you would have done on-site.

• Best way: Rugs brought to a rugwashing plant will have the mostsoil removed. Whether thedusting method is accomplishedwith a commercial vacuum,professional duster, compressedair, giant tumbler, etc., rug plantshave the equipment and labor toget more soil out prior tocleaning. And the washingmethod, whether by wash pit oran inclined wash floor, throughfully saturating the rug, willloosen up and flush out evenmore soil than the dusting couldhave ever reached otherwise.

CLEANFAX.COM APRIL 2011 CM/Cleanfax® 33

COVER STORYrugs

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Lisa Wagner is a second-generation rug care expert, NIRC Certified Rug Specialist and an owner of K. Blatchford'sSan Diego Rug Cleaning Company. She was recognized as the 2006 Cleanfax magazine Person of the Year for herindustry contributions. For a copy of her latest free report "Rug Disasters — and How To Avoid Them" visit her rugeducation website at www.RugChick.com.

A wool woven rug can hold poundsof soil and grit before itbegins to look dirty.

A wool woven rug can hold poundsof soil and grit before itbegins to look dirty.

No rinsingWhen cleaning a rug in the home, usu-

ally the “top of mind” concerns are toavoid bleeding the dyes and to not createany problems with the flooring under-neath the rug.

This usually leads to a quicker cleaningto “freshen up” the rug with little or, in theworst cases, no rinsing.

Besides the obvious problem of the rugnot being clean, there are additional prob-lems with measurable residue being leftbehind, especially in natural fiber rugs.

If the rug is colorful, then a dye stabiliz-ing product will generally be applied tothe rug, brushed in a bit and left to dwell.Then the cleaning solution is added andextracted, leaving behind some additionalresidue along with that dye stabilizing so-lution. Then, if a fiber rinse is used, manyof which, in the carpet cleaning lines ofchemicals, have added surfactants, thisleaves behind residue as well.


COVER STORY

WHAT’S LURKING BENEATH THE SURFACE?

This room-size Chinese handwoven wool rug, with cotton foun-dation, is dusted over a metalgrate. The rug is dusted until nomore dry soil is released. Poundsof soil have been removed.

The rug is wetted down and washed.Suds are released from the fibers be-fore our shampoo is even applied (thisis past residue). The rug is scrubbedwith a rotary scrubber, using a neutralpH Oriental rug shampoo, followed bythorough rinsing with an acid rinse andgallons of water. However, take a look.

Despite over an hour of washing, soil still remains caked into the foundationfibers of this rug. The soil is hard to the touch, the result of several past clean-ings performed in the home by a carpet cleaning company that did not special-ize in wool rugs.

The embedded soil could not be released with aggressive dusting or standardwashing. A much higher alkaline cleaning solution was required, which withthis rug, because no dyes are involved, did not create a “bleeding” risk, andthe use of a stiffer hand-held brush to literally “scrub away” the soil physicallysection by section was needed.

Because of the improper prior cleaning, the rug had to be handled muchmore aggressively than usual. The wash took twice as long, used twice asmuch solution and labor — all the result of a past cleaning that never got itclean.

If you clean rugs in the home, after you complete your next job, simply bendopen the fibers and look closely. Once you do that, and see the dirty truth, youwon’t ever feel right about cleaning rugs on location again. A complete flushing of soils and rinsing of residues

with in-plant rug cleaning procedures means abetter result for the client.

No matter what the steps, measurablesoil and solution residue is being left be-hind in the rug. And if the residue is onthe alkaline side on a wool rug, this canlead to yellowing, fading and future dyemigration problems with a rug’s aciddyes.

There is a better way and a best way toapproach this challenge.

• Better way: Rugs being surfacecleaned off-site can be rinsed morethoroughly due to the ability to usea pure (no surfactants added) acidrinse to remove more residue fromthe fibers. Cleaning off-site allowsyou to use rinsing solutions youcan’t use in the home, either due toodor or possible damage to thefloors, and allows you to spendmore time rinsing because youhave a better setup for drying therug out completely.

• Best way: Rug washing is the bestway to remove the most residue, inaddition to any other additionalsoil that has been released fromwithin the warps and wefts duringthe cleaning process. With the rugeither placed on elevating tiles in awash pit, or with hoses runningfrom behind the rug on an inclinedwash floor, you can flush waterthrough the back to the front of therug and with the use of a squeegee,linoleum roller or pressure washerrinse the rug thoroughly until thewater runs clear. Pure acid rinsesolutions are mixed and ready touse if additional residue removal isneeded, and large water removalequipment (such as a rug wringeror rug spinner) allows you to remove the most excess moisturebefore placing the rugs in the rugdrying area.

No fringe cleaningThe fringe is the smile of a rug. A per-

son could have a perfectly clean face, andif they smile and reveal brown or blackteeth, it stops you dead in your tracks.

Often a rug is considered “dirty” by anowner when the cotton fringes are visiblysoiled. Wool face fibers can hide pounds

Circle 219


of soil and still look “good,” but cottondoes not work the same way. There isno place to hide the soil on those cottontassels.

Quickly surface cleaning cotton fringetassels will not get them clean. That’s likehaving soiled shoelaces and taking adamp rag to wipe them down and expectthem to look better. They don’t.

Fringe requires scrubbing to get themclean, using a cotton or all-fiber sham-poo, and rinsing to remove as muchresidue as possible. It takes time. Mostcleaners who choose to clean rugs in thehome do not even bother to touch thefringe because they don’t have the timeor the tools to do it properly.

So you usually end up with a rug thatlooks a bit better in the field, but has thatgrimy “smile” to it along the ends.

There is a better way and a best way toapproach this challenge.

• Better way: Getting fringe tasselsto look really good is a hugechallenge — the biggest challengeI hear from cleaners. Many clientswait too long to get their rugscleaned, so soil is ground intothose cotton strands. Off-sitesurface cleaning can give anopportunity to sit and scrub thosefringes clean, and use somestronger temperatures, orsolutions, to help releasethe ground in soil.

• Best way: The wash process itselfsoaks the tassels and releases soilduring the immersion; theagitation of the scrubbing (rotaryor hand brushes), with thorough

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36 CM/Cleanfax® APRIL 2011 CLEANFAX.COMCircle 231

Getting fringe tassels to lookreally good is a huge

challenge.

Getting fringe tassels to lookreally good is a huge

challenge.

A quick surface cleaning of the cotton fringe onlyremoves a small amount of soil. A complete scrub-bing and rinsing are required. Bleach fringe onlywhen it is absolutely necessary.

rinsing of the entire rug, also getsthe fringe tassels much cleaner.Fringe bleach can be used (carefully) if whitening is needed afterthe cleaning. And if the fringe isespecially bad, most rug plantsoffer fringe replacement for thosewho waited much too long to gettheir rug cleaned.

No timeWhen a cleaner is in the home cleaning a

rug, he usually has another job to go to — orseveral.

Since the fee is based by size, not time, thefaster the job can be accomplished, the moreprofitable it is to him. No time to worryabout dry time, or fringe cleaning, or if therug might bleed during the drying stage.And if the rug is wool, which does smell abit like a “wet dog” when damp, it’s anotherreason to not get it too wet.

It’s to the on-location cleaner’s advantageto not do “too much” to rugs and get out ofthere as quickly as possible (before anythingbad happens).

The fewer steps, the better, especially ifthe cleaner has limited knowledge aboutOriental rugs, and whether the rug they areworking on is worth a hundred dollars orworth thousands. There’s a tendency to justget it done quick, get paid and get out ofthere.

The rug could be left with soil embeddedin its foundation, sticky residue in the fibers,dirty fringe, and then the client handed a billfor “cleaning” a rug that is actually still dirty.

There is a better way and a best way to ap-proach this challenge.

• Better way: Doing surfacecleaning off-site allows a cleanerto spend more time beingthorough with specific cleaningsteps, and use better tools andsolutions. If anything does gowrong, it also gives anopportunity to correct theproblem. Having a disasterhappen on location with a rug,in most cases, means the cleanerhas “bought it.” A cleaner can takethe needed time if the work isdone off-site.

• Best way: The limitation with amini-plant is that you often are

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TOUGH CALL ON TUFTED RUGSTufted rugs in my world are “fake” rugs.They are cheaper ways of manufacturing the “look” of a woven rug without the labor

or quality. They are the “particle board” of the rug world.Latex is used to hold the loops in place, the top side loops are sheared off, and ma-

terial is usually attached to cover up the ugly latex backing. Tufted rugs take days tocreate as opposed to woven rugs taking months (or years).

Generally, the latex provides enough of a moisture barrier for surface cleaning in thehome, but the latex can discolor and yellow the floor underneath. That said, thoroughrinsing and the slower drying that results from this latex will generally lead to the“quick clean and run” decision.

Many tufted rugs are poorly constructed. Delamination and crumbling of the adhe-sive is common. Stenciling of the design motifs in ink is a common manufacturing flawthat can wick up and stain the face fibers during cleaning, especially in hooked rugs.

In some cases “surface cleaning” is the best choice to avoid getting the foundationand latex wet. Not because it is the best cleaning method, but because it is the bestoption for a rug that is not of high enough quality to handle a proper washing. They cutcorners in production to make the rug cheaper, and this makes it a problem rug.

The rug cleaning professional needs to weigh all factors from his pre-inspection intohis choice on the best actions to take. Fiber type, dye stability, construction type andpre-existing conditions will all collectively direct his actions.

And with many of the inferior tufted rugs on the market today, surface cleaning maybe the better choice than washing.

Of course, the best choice is to educate consumers on why to buy woven rugs in-stead of these disposable tufted rugs... but that’s a topic for another time.


COVER STORYable to work on just one rug at atime during the day due to spaceand, if you are an owner-operator,labor. A dedicated rug plant willhave the resources to handle morevolume while also allowing thetime needed to achieve the bestresults. There will be dedicatedareas for specific phases of the rugcleaning process in a rug plant, asopposed to having to do all of thesteps in one small area. If moretime is needed on a particular rug,it does not create a backlogpreventing other rugs from beingcleaned. You can take the timeyou need to in order to do thejob right.

Do what’s best for the rugI often hear from carpet cleaners that their

clients don’t want their rugs taken out forcleaning, or they won’t allow their rugs to goout for cleaning — and that is why they cleanon-location.

That is a cop-out. And that is absolutely

not cleaning.If a rug owner is educated on the reasons

why wool rugs are different than installedsynthetic carpet, and why surface cleaningon-site not only leaves behind soil and suds,but also can create damage, most will dowhat is best for the rug.

Our business refuses to do on-site clean-ing because the recommended method forcleaning woven rugs is washing them. I can’tremember a single time when a rug client ofours has refused to have their rug taken out

to be properly cleaned. Even hotels sendtheir rugs out for cleaning.

If a cleaner gives in to cleaning a rug on-site, then it is the responsibility of thatcleaner to inform the owner of the limita-tions and potential damage that can occur,and to protect his or her cleaning companyby getting a release of liability because thehomeowner is choosing a method that car-ries short and long-term risks to it.

If something goes wrong, it is the cleanerwho will be expected to replace the rug.However, if you are being asked to do some-thing against accepted industry standards forwoven rugs, the risk should be placed rightback on the homeowner. That’s only fair.

When it comes right down to it, it is theprofessional cleaner’s role to advise on andexecute the best cleaning process for thehealth and welfare of the home environmentand its valued contents.

When professional cleaners relinquish allcleaning decisions and direction to thehomeowner, then they are no longer thecleaning “experts.” They are simply thehired help. CF

There’s a tendencyto just get itdone quick,

get paid andget out ofthere.

There’s a tendencyto just get itdone quick,

get paid andget out ofthere.

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