Rug question

[ACE]

I hate doing rugs in the winter. Cleaning in the garage is not an option, so I have to work through this batch in the house. Don’t ask me why my bedroom carpet has red stripes. Luckily the biggest of this batch is 5 x 8.

How would you clean this? It’s embroidered with wool or a mostly wool yarn with cotton backing. The back of the rug is heavily soiled. Would you attempt to clean the backing?

 

[sweendogg]

Appears to be a Kashmir Chainstitch: Detailing is hard to verify, but Sometimes the backing can shrink more so than the front and causing buckling.. Usually the backing is sewn on rather than latexed. Either way you could attempt to use an upholstery tool to clean up the back a little. (like Lisa's magic wand the drimaster!) Otherwise check dyes(not usually an issue with these rugs) Make sure the backing isn't covering an old jute backing. Older chainstich rugs were made on jute backing material and were covered up when they started detiorating. (test by seeing if the rug is crunchy when you roll it up or fold it over it self. )

 

[ACE]

I dont think the backing has any Jute. So the front should be okay to steam on a lower PSI? I want to trhow the darn thing in a frontloader .

 

[sweendogg]

I know what you mean,, I've been tempted to do just that.. kinda of wish, these rug centrifuge guys would just come up with a huge washing machine and be done with it.

On wool we always turn our heat down if not completely off depending on when we are doing it and weather. You'd be safe with 150 or so. But high heat even 200 degrees can make a wool bleed that would have been fine in cold water because wool is dyed at such a lower temperature compared to synthetics. And with any hand made piece, its a crapshoot as to the dye quality.

When we wash in our plant, we don't use any hot water.. all coldwater.

 

[ACE]

David, It is a Chainstitch. You were right on the money. Sorry for the blurry pic of the tag. I appreciate your advice. There are few here who have such a detailed knowledge of a wide variety of services. I steamed the front at low PSI and speed dried. It turned out fine. I think I’ll just spray down the back with some warm encap juice and buff it out with cotton towels to make it look a bit better.

 

[sweendogg]

No problem.. like I've said in other posts.. it helps growing up in the flooring industry. And when you have boards like these, the educational opportunities in the IICRC and other courses out there its amazing how much you can learn and institue in your own program. Good to know it all came out well. Make sure to get the encap juice dried quickly.. I've seen those cotton backings brown in a hurry.. You might tried some cotton shampoo whip in to foam and do the same thing. Only speaking from experienc on this one.