Rug Wash.

Why immersion

Hand-knotted rugs are built like sponges. They hold dirt deep in their foundation — beneath the visible pile — and that dirt cannot be lifted by surface methods. Steam cleaning, dry powders, and consumer carpet shampoos all leave residue behind. A full immersion bath is the only method that truly rinses a rug.

What we do

After intake and inspection, the rug is mechanically dusted to remove embedded soil. Stains are pre-treated by hand. The rug is then submerged in a fiber-safe bath, gently worked, and fully rinsed until the water runs clear. Controlled drying follows — flat, in a humidity-managed room.

When to wash

Most rugs benefit from a professional wash every 3 to 5 years, depending on traffic, pets, and household conditions. Rugs that look fine on the surface often hold years of accumulated dirt below — a wash is the only way to know.

Schedule a Pick-Up

"Rug wash" is the proper term for what most people call rug cleaning, and it's fundamentally different from carpet cleaning. Carpet cleaning equipment is designed for fastened wall-to-wall carpet — high-temperature water, alkaline chemistry, and aggressive agitation that wool and silk rugs cannot tolerate. Rug wash, by contrast, is a multi-step hand-finished process designed specifically for hand-knotted and natural-fiber area rugs.

The full wash process: (1) Inspection and dye-stability testing — every color tested with cool water before any wet work to identify any fugitive dyes. (2) Hand dusting — pounds of fine grit removed from the foundation through pneumatic dusting, far more effective than any vacuum. (3) Stain pre-treatment — specific stains addressed individually with appropriate chemistry before wash. (4) Full immersion wash — the rug is washed in a controlled water bath using neutral-pH chemistry and cool-to-warm water. (5) Controlled drying — flat drying at 65°F and 45% humidity to prevent foundation distortion. (6) Final inspection — pile groomed, edges checked, condition verified before delivery.

Total time from pickup to delivery is typically 7 days. Heavily soiled pieces, antiques requiring conservative methods, and silk pieces requiring extended drying take longer.

Pricing is based on rug size, construction, and condition. Standard wool rugs run $4–$6 per square foot; fine Persians and antiques run $6–$10; silk pieces are quoted individually. We always provide written estimates before work begins.

A genuine rug wash starts before any water touches the rug. Most of what makes a rug dirty is dry, gritty soil buried in the pile, so the first step is thorough dusting to drive that grit out. Skipping it just turns dry dirt into mud during washing.

Once the rug is dusted, it gets a full-immersion bath with cleaning solution matched to its fibers and dyes, is groomed by hand in the direction of the pile, rinsed thoroughly, and dried flat under controlled conditions. Hanging a soaked rug or rushing the drying is how foundations distort and dyes migrate — controlled drying is as important as the wash itself.

• Dry soil dusted out before washing — the step most cleaners skip
• Full-immersion bath with pH suited to wool, silk, or cotton
• Hand-groomed with the pile and thoroughly rinsed
• Dried flat under controlled conditions to protect shape and color