Rug Cleaning
Area rugs are washed off site, by hand, in five steps that begin with dry soil removal and end with grooming the pile back into its natural lay. Pickup and delivery are included across our Northern Virginia service area.
Why the rug leaves your house
Wall to wall carpet is attached to the floor and gets cleaned where it lies. An area rug is a woven textile with a foundation, a fringe, and dyes that behave nothing like synthetic fiber. Cleaning it means immersion, which is plant work.
Most of what sits in an old rug is dry grit at the base of the pile. Wet that grit before you remove it and it turns to mud and travels down instead of out. There is no clean way to dust a rug indoors, so the rug goes on the truck.
Pickup and delivery are included in our service area, including Great Falls, McLean, and Leesburg.
The five step wash
- Inspect and dye test. We read the back, the selvedge, the fringe, and the foundation. Every color gets a damp white swab held under pressure for about 60 seconds. If a dye moves, we lower the water temperature and wash on the acid side, or we stop and call you.
- Dry dust. The rug is agitated from the back until nothing more falls out. On a soiled 9 by 12 that runs 20 to 40 minutes and yields several pounds of dry soil.
- Hand wash with the pile. Soft brushes worked in the direction the pile lies, never against it and never in circles. Wool is washed at 100 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit at a mild pH, generally between 5 and 8.
- Rinse and extract. We flush until the rinse runs clear, then extract. Detergent left in a rug is what makes it stiff and re-soil within weeks.
- Dry flat, then groom. The rug dries flat with air moving across it, normally 12 to 24 hours. Then the pile is groomed back into its natural lay and the fringe combed straight.
What we will not do
We will not run a rotary machine over a hand knotted rug in a customer’s home. A rotary head spins a brush or a bonnet at high speed against the pile. On hand knotted wool it fuzzes the fiber tips, distorts the pile so the rug reads blotchy in daylight, and drives soil into the knots where nobody reaches it later. It also leaves the rug damp on a floor it can bleed dye into.
Fringe
The fringe on a hand knotted rug is not trim. It is the warp, the structure of the rug, coming out the ends. We wash it by hand and do not bleach it white. Fringe worn back to the knots can be secured, not restored.
Wool, silk, and cotton foundation
Wool tolerates water and mild alkalinity if you respect temperature. Silk does not: it loses luster in hot water and at high pH, so silk gets cooler water and low moisture handling. A cotton foundation swells wet and shrinks as it dries, which is why a rug dried in a heap comes back wavy.
Moth, dry rot, and turnaround
Both are checked before washing. Moth damage shows as grazed bare patches with casings at the base of the pile. Dry rot comes from a rug that stayed wet, and the back snaps rather than folds. Washing repairs neither, and we tell you at pickup rather than at delivery. Urine that reached the foundation can leave permanent dye bleed even after immersion and pet odor removal treatment.
Turnaround is 4 to 7 days. Tell us at pickup where the rug has been spotted at home, because store bought spotters and vinegar rinses change how a dye behaves in the wash tank. After we roll the rug, vacuum the floor it covered. If the floor underneath needs work we can schedule carpet cleaning or hot water extraction for delivery day. We also handle upholstery cleaning in Ashburn.
Recent rug cleaning work
Real jobs in Northern Virginia homes, photographed on the day.
What this looks like
A real job, before and after. Drag the handle.
Drag the handle. The left half is where we came in.
Questions we get about this
Why can't you clean my oriental rug in my house?
Because the first and most important step is dry dusting, and there is no clean way to shake several pounds of grit out of a rug inside a home. Immersion rinsing also needs a wash floor and a drying room. In home cleaning skips both steps, which is why a rug cleaned that way feels clean on top and stays dirty at the knots.
How long will you have my rug?
Four to seven days from pickup to delivery for a standard wool rug. Silk, rugs with heavy urine contamination, and anything needing fringe or edge repair take longer, and we tell you the expected date at pickup rather than after the fact. If you have a firm deadline, say so when you book and we will tell you honestly whether it fits.
How does pickup and delivery work?
Pickup and delivery are included inside our regular Northern Virginia service area, which covers Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and the western end of Prince William County. We roll the rug face in, wrap it, and tag it at your door. Call Majid at (540) 628-5274 with the room measurements and we will schedule a pickup window.
Will washing get the pet urine smell out completely?
Usually yes on a rug where urine sat near the surface, because full immersion flushes the salts out rather than masking them. Where urine soaked through to the foundation repeatedly, the odor generally clears but the dye damage does not. Expect a bleached or bled area to remain visible. We check for this at pickup and tell you what to expect before we take the rug.
How often should an area rug be washed?
Every two to four years in a normal household, and every year to eighteen months where a rug sits in an entry, under a dining table, or in a house with dogs. Vacuum both faces between washes and rotate the rug end for end once a year so wear and sun exposure spread evenly. A rug that has gone stiff or smells when it gets damp is already overdue.
Is my rug hand knotted or machine made?
Turn it over. A hand knotted rug shows the pattern clearly on the back with slightly irregular knots, and the fringe is a continuation of the foundation rather than a strip sewn on. Machine made rugs have a uniform back, often with a grid pattern or a glued backing, and applied fringe. We confirm the construction at pickup and choose the wash accordingly.
Can you fix worn or missing fringe?
We wash and comb fringe by hand on every job, and we can secure fringe that is unraveling so the damage stops spreading. We do not bleach fringe white, because that weakens the cotton warp threads. Length already chewed off by a vacuum beater bar or worn back to the knots cannot be restored by cleaning of any kind.
What if you find moth damage or dry rot?
We photograph it and call you before washing. Moth damage looks like grazed bare patches with casings at the base of the pile. Dry rot means the foundation has broken down from staying wet, and the back cracks instead of folding. Neither is repaired by cleaning. We will tell you whether washing is still worth doing on that rug.
The rest of what we do
- 01 Carpet Cleaning Rooms, stairs, hallways and traffic lanes, cleaned with truck mounted extraction.
- 02 Steam Cleaning and Hot Water Extraction The method itself: hot water at pressure, pulled back out with the soil.
- 03 Upholstery Cleaning Sofas, sectionals, chairs and headboards, cleaned to the fabric code.
- 04 Curtain and Drapery Cleaning Panels, sheers and lined drapery, cleaned in place or taken down.
- 05 Pet Odor and Stain Removal Treated down at the pad and the subfloor, not sprayed on the surface.
Have a look at it in person
Walkthroughs are free and take about fifteen minutes. We agree the scope together and point out anything that will not come out before a hose comes off the truck. Over a decade in Northern Virginia and that has not changed.