RUG CLEANING PROCESS

1.Pre-Wash Inspection.

Each rug is inspected for any pre-existing conditions. Many times, soil covers up dye lot variations (abrash), fibre staining, prior dye bleeding, worn areas or white knots that become “uncovered” after the wash.

Some of these are weaving characteristics (abrash and white knots), and others are damage that can possibly be repaired or reversed

2.Dusting.

Once the pre-wash inspection is complete and before the wash proceeds, the first step is dusting. Some rugs can hold up to one pound of dirt per square foot before they will “look” dirty. Cleaning a rug with pounds of fine grit & dirt in the foundation creates mud…so dusting is an important first step to the wash process.

We will remove  the damaging soil! Harnessing over 40,000 harmonic vibrations a minute, the RugBadger (shown above) will vibrate out even the most stubborn soil and sediments caught deep in the fibres of your precious rug!!!

3.Dye Test.

Here we test every rug which we receive to make sure that all colours are stable.  If colours are not stable we can usually stabelise “them.Once colours are colourfast we can now start our cleaning procedure but if we can not stabelise the colours we will carry out a low moisture clean which will be more safer for your rugs.

4.Cleaning.

The dyes of your rug are tested for colourfastness. If the dyes are not colourfast, then the rug is prepared by setting the dyes. The rug is given a cold-water, mild shampoo bath, using soft brushes for mild agitation.

The rug is soaked for a certain length of time, depending on how much surface soil needs to be brushed out and rinsed from the rug’s fibres. The rug is then thoroughly rinsed with water.

5.Rinsing.

Removal off all cleaning and soil residue by means of clear water rinse is vital of achieving a thoroughly clean rug. The rinse process utilise clear water at a gentle flow rate to ensure the rug is left without any residue after the cleaning process.

Rugs are thoroughly rinsed to remove soils, contaminants and any cleaning product residue. The knap is brushed to ensure softness as it dries. Any fringe on the rug is also brushed out during rinsing.

6.Protector.

After the rug has been cleaned we can move on to applying the protector. This barrier coats each fibre to protect against re-soiling and staining. This allows you to simply mop up spillages as it prevents the fibres from absorbing spills.

7.Water Extraction.

This ensures that the drying of your rug is speeded up 10 times compared to any other method used by other cleaning companies. This totally eliminates the chance of mould growth, colour run, browning and any other issue associated with sloppy wet rug taking weeks to dry.

Clean Rugs is the only rug cleaning firm in Winchester to use this extraction system!

8.Drying.

Air movers are used to help facilitate drying, without the use of high heat (so there is no worry of shrinkage).

Upon a first wash, it is typical for a rug to shrink slightly (less than an inch) – just as cotton and wool clothing does even in a cold water hand wash. And as with throwing wool or cotton in a high heat dryer, you know this shrinks natural fibres, that’s why we dry our rugs the way we do.

9. Fringe Work and Finishing

Fringes are then washed an additional time after the bath &  then dried. The rug’s given a final grooming with a horsehair brush, & then carefully wrapped to ensure its cleanliness during transit.

We will then deliver the rug directly to you home and unwrap it for you.

1.Inspection

Our skilled technicians will asses your rug to determine the most suitable cleaning process based on its material type, its age and its size.

We will happily discuss any problem areas you may be particularly concerned about, and set a minimum expectation concerning the finished result.

Finally, we will clearly label and number your item, take before and after photographs to accompany your customer report, and these will be returned to you upon completion*.

2.Dust extraction.

Before any water or wet cleaning agents are applied to the rug, the item must first have the residual dust, soil and any other material removed from it. The importance of this step cannot be underestimated, as failure to remove this material before water is applied in the short term will cause the rug to look dirty very quickly (as the dirt wicks back up the fiber), and in the longer term, will harden and begin to slice in to the rugs pile causing fiber break and damage to the primary backing (links to be added).

Depending on the rug type, the item will be cage tumbled so as to loosen the majority of the dirt hiding in the pile.

Following this step, the rug is placed pile down, and then rotary beaten so as to loosen any remaining material. (insert youtube link)

Finally, compressed air is carefully released through the primary backing, gently removing all contaminants from the rug (insert youtube link)

Only when the rug is completely contaminate free, can it be safely spot tested.

3.Spot testing

Our technicians will typically spot test more than three areas of the rug, and we do this to assess its ability to hold its color when water is applied as well as its overall integrity when appropriate cleaning chemicals are added.

Typically spot testing can provide immediate results however, we prefer to leave the test in place for a minimum of 24 hours such that any latent issues may be detected.

Once were confident the rug can be safely cleaned, it will then be taken through to our polished water rinsing process (link to benefits of polished water).

4.Rinsing

In nearly all cases, your rug will have undergone some form of prior cleaning regime. Unfortunately, many high street spot cleaning products, urine contamination products, and even professional carpet cleaners leave their cleaning chemicals in the pile as they are not extracted thoroughly.

More often than not, we discover a cleaning agent has in some way affected the integrity of the pile. In most cases this only amounts to a little discoloration, or perhaps a stain being set in.

Our process involves thoroughly rinsing these agents out in order to ensure our own chemicals not only perform as expected, but that any new or unseen issues not detected at the initial inspection are immediately relayed to you.

5.Cleaning

Once our technicians are certain the rug has been thoroughly rinsed, the rug is either placed in a centrifuge (link to be added) or wrapped in our rug-sucking machine. This process reduces drying time from sometimes weeks, to a maximum of two days by safely extracting up to 95% of any residual polished water within minutes.

6.Water extraction

7.Controlled drying.

Your rug is placed in a tank and soaked in a pre-clean agent for a period of time (up to 24 hours for severe pest or urine contamination) that allows the product to penetrate the fiber.

Once activated, the rug is placed in a shallow tank and the fiber is gently agitated by hand which massages the cleaning agent in to the pile (hand brush or rotary floor scrubber).

Slide over image of carpet scrubbing in tank

After the agent has penetrated the fiber and has been scrubbed, the rug is then completely rinsed.

The final step in the cleaning process is for our technician to add a primary cleaning chemical, and continues the scrubbing process.

Typically, once through this process is enough to remove any stains, odors and other contaminates. However, this process will be repeated as many times as is necessary so as to deliver the best result.

Finally, the rug will be rinsed again, so as to completely remove our cleaning agents prior to the drying process.

8.Finishing