How to recognise a real silk rug

1.      A real silk rug will have a high knot count.  It should have at least     200 KPSI (Knots Per Square Inch) and most will have more than 500 KPSI.  Because it has a high knot count, it should have a very intricate design pattern.

2.      A real silk rug will have real silk fringes that can be clearly seen to be an extension of the rug, not sewn on.  Since you may not be as       familiar as we are with the differences between silk, cotton, and           rayon, it may not help you to know that a real silk rug will have silk       fringes.  Therefore, if you can snip a small piece of the fringe and         put it quickly through a flame and then out again, the burnt piece         should be a crisp, black ball and the smoke should smell like burning       hair.  (Rayon will have a smell like burning paper and the ash will be       soft and chalky).

 This image above illustrates how difficult it is to discern a real fringe or not, this is actually a cotton edge with silk threads pulled through - easy to miss on a quick once over!

In this image you can see the folded fringe base - a common characteristic of an artificial rug.  The fringe has been attached post rug making.

 Here is a great example of a genuine silk rug fringe, you can easily see the fringe is part of the foundation of the rug

3.      Another possible way to discern real from artificial silk is that if the   rug is rubbed vigorously. Real silk will feel warm; artificial silk will feel     cold.

4.      The most positive way to determine if a rug is really silk is to do a     specialized chemical test. Something a bit impossible to do while on a rug buying journey and one that is best left to experts.

Sourced from: http://www.abc-oriental-rug.com

If you have a rug that you are not sure of, feel free to bring it along to our rug cleaning studio in Chittering, Cambridge and our team will be happy to help you decipher if your rug is real silk or not.  We will be happy to give you guidance on how to best maintain your rug.

We are proud to be the only Master Rug Cleaners in Cambridge.  For more information on our services contact our friendly team on 01223 863632 or email us at info@artofclean.co.uk

Art of Clean are specialists in: 

Rug Cleaning,
Carpet Cleaning,

Upholstery Cleaning 

Leather Furniture Cleaning,

Hardwood Floor Cleaning,
Stone floor Cleaning,

Working for domestic or commercial clients throughout Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire.

 

Delamination of rugs

 Rug delamination

Now, if you've heard of delamination you will more likely have associated this issue with carpet delamination.  This is because carpets are more often compiled of a number of backings that are adhered together with latex.  The issue occurs when the latex has, for whatever reason, disintegrated to some degree and is no longer adhering the layers together.  The result being that the carpet now has room to move and this will cause a rippling effect.  This is a particularly pesky problem as there is no easy solution to repair the damage.

Rugs however are generally woven or knotted so the rug backing and its fibers are actually one entire product.  If you have a rug delamination problem this is because the rug has been created using the tufted method.

Tufted rug

Tufted rugs are not woven, instead they are created by pushing wool fibers into a mesh backing before being glued into place at the reverse.  A covering is applied to the back to mask the glue backing (this you will not see on any form or woven rug) and the top of the rug is sheared to the desired pile height.  These rugs are generally a cheaper more mass produced type of rug.



Your rug is most likely to suffer delamination due to 6 key reasons:

1. Age - Latex will eventually break down and this often leads to cracking, this is likely to happen even in good quality old rugs.
2. Poor latex quality - Some rug producers have been known to cut corners on latex quality by adding bulking agents to the mix, such as concrete, so that the product goes further (often found in U.S. of Indian rugs).  This will lessen the durability of the latex, the result of this will again be that the product will break down into a crumbly mess.
3. Water damage - if water has penetrated the latex and been left for a period of time it is likely that the latex has started to crack and break down - especially if the latex is of poor quality.  This will now allow movement as the latex is no longer providing a stable, secure base.
4. Solvents - some cleaning solvents will actually start to dissolve the latex if they are not adequately removed after use.
5. Urine - cat or dog urine starts out as an acidic compound that will turn alkaline and will start to dissolve the latex also.
6. Heavy furniture - if heavy furniture has been pushed around on the rug this can cause damage to the latex.

Art of Clean are proud to be the only Master Rug Cleaners in Cambridge and part of the Wool Safe Organisation.

Art of Clean are specialists in: 

Rug Cleaning,

Upholstery Cleaning 

Leather Furniture Cleaning, 

Hardwood Floor Cleaning, 

Stone floor Cleaning,

Carpet Cleaning,

Working for domestic or commercial clients throughout Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire.

For more information about our services please contact our friendly team on 01223 863632 or visit www.artofclean.co.uk.

Moth damage on rug

The moths really went to town on this poor rug, you can see all the fibers have been eaten away over a large section.  We can freeze the rug at our rug cleaning studio to kill the moths and any larvae, this will prevent them doing any further damage.

To repair a rug with this much damage will need a professional rug restorer.  See your previous blog on rug restoration to see the incredible work that The Persian Carpet Studio in Norfolk

Rug restoration blog:  http://artofcleanuk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/rug-restoration.html

Art of Clean are proud to be the only Master Rug Cleaners in Cambridge and part of the Wool Safe Organisation.

Art of Clean are specialists in: 

Rug Cleaning,

Upholstery Cleaning 

Leather Furniture Cleaning, 

Hardwood Floor Cleaning, 

Stone floor Cleaning,

Carpet Cleaning,

Working for domestic or commercial clients throughout Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire.

For more information about our services please contact our friendly team on 01223 863632 or visit www.artofclean.co.uk.

 

 

How to clean a rug with snow

This is an old rug cleaning method used in many countries that regularly receive sub-zero winters with substantial snow fall.  As the North of England are experiencing a particularly cold winter at the moment I though this information may be useful!

Rug cleaning using snow is a very effective method, it leaves the rugs bright, clean and bacteria free!  However you cannot just stick your rug into any old snow, you'll need fresh, light, dry snow - not the soggy stuff.  The key is that the rug never actually gets wet as the dry snow and the sub-zero temperatures means the snow never actually melts.

The sub-zero temperatures kill any bacteria and bugs in the rug (in the same way that we use our chiller at the rug cleaning studio to kill carpet moths).  The cold snow also helps to solidify any greasy build up on the rug which is then beaten away, leaving the rug looking vibrant.

Here is how to clean a rug using snow:

1. Put the rug outside to acclimatise - the rug needs to be very cold else the snow will melt and wet the rug which will inhibit the whole cleaning process.
2. Lay rug face down in the clean dry snow - cover with snow and let it lay for 15-20 minutes before gently beating the rug with a broom to loosen the dirt from the fibers.
3. Flip rug - flip it and move rug to a clean area of snow.  Again cover with snow, let it sit for 15-20 minutes before beating the other side to loosen and remove the dirt from the reverse.
4. Repeat - if a lot of dirt has been left in the snow you may want to repeat the beating process until you are satisfied with the dirt removal.
5. Brush snow off -  once you are pleased with the dirt removal shake or beat the rug over a railing to remove the snow.  Bringing the rug indoors and hang it out to sublimate - any remaining snow should turn to directly to vapor without actually wetting the rug.

If you lack the sub-zero climate and drifts of fresh powdery snow you may want to opt for a more modern carpet cleaning approach which is where Art of Clean can help.  We are proud to be the only Master Rug Cleaners in Cambridge.  We have a rug cleaning studio with a state of the art rug centrifuge that ensures the deepest clean and quickest drying time for your rug.

For more information about our services please contact our friendly team on 01223 863632 or visit www.artofclean.co.uk.

 

Art of Clean are specialists in: 

Rug Cleaning,

Upholstery Cleaning 

Leather Furniture Cleaning,

Hardwood Floor Cleaning, 

Stone floor Cleaning,

Carpet Cleaning,

Working for domestic or commercial clients throughout Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire.

 

  Pierre explains the rug cleaning process in this short video:

 

White knots on rug

A problem that sometimes occurs with older rugs is the appearance of white tufts or flecks or small 1/8" round, hard, white nubs in an area on the face of the rug. This problem only occurs in rugs woven on cotton warp. The symptom looks like this:


A 3'x5' older Sarouk with white knots showing on the face of the rug.

The white knots that show on the face of the rug are actually the untrimmed ends of knots in the warp strings. Weavers don't always use continuous lengths of cotton string as the warps--sometimes they tie together shorter lengths to make a warp long enough to string from loom beam to loom beam. Often the weaver doesn't trim the ends of the knot in the warp string closely, relying instead on the eventual thickness of the rug's pile to hide the knot and the ends of the knot. When the pile of the rug wears (to perhaps half its original thickness or less), the end of the knot in the warp becomes visible as a white tuft on the face of the rug.
Sometimes the pile of the rug has worn so low that even the ends of the warp knots have worn away, and the actual knot in the cotton warp is exposed. The warp knots appear as small round, hard white nubbins sprinkled in an area of the design where the pile is quite thin.

There is an easy (though time consuming) fix for this problem. Using a small, sharp sissors, you can open the nap of the rug at the white fleck and clip off the end of the knot in the cotton warp as close to the base of the rug as possible. This doesn't damage or weaken the structure of the rug, it just gets rid of the unsightly white flecks in the design. The downside is the time it takes to clip all of these flecks, especially in a carpet-sized rug. This can be an expensive undertaking if you have a rug dealer do the work, as it can take hours and hours to clean a large rug of white knots.

Oriental rug dealers sometimes are unwilling to go to the time and expense to clip the white knots from the face of a rug, preferring instead to touch them up with colored markers. This is not a good long term fix. The marker color can lighten or even disappear if the rug is washed. Even if the marker is colorfast, coloring the nubbin of the knot still leaves the knot itself which looks different from the surrounding pile.

Sourced from: http://www.jacobsenrugs.com

Art of clean are proud to be the only registered Master Rug Cleaners in Cambridge.  If you would like some more information about our professional rug cleaning services please contact our friendly team on 01223 863632 or visit www.artofclean.co.uk.

We are a professional cleaning company who specialise in Carpet Cleaning, Rug Cleaning, Hardwood Floor Cleaning, Stone floor Cleaning, Upholstery Cleaning and Leather Furniture Cleaning for domestic and commercial clients through out Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire.