NO FIDO

NO FIDO!!!!!!!!
Those of us with animals have all had to endure the occasional accident involving our pooches or kitties and the Oriental Rug.

The best treatment is an immediate treatment. BLOT with a white terry cloth rag to transfer the urine into the rag. DO NOT RUB or the stain will become a part of the rug for ever. You can add some clear cold water and blot some more to try to remove any urine that is still in the rug.
Next you want to get the rug to us as fast as possible in order to begin the cleaning process. If there is only a small amount of urine in the rug maybe just a cleaning and deodorizing is appropriate. However if Fido has been using the rug on a more regular basis then lets talk about an ENZYME BATH. We actually soak your rug in a solution of water, deodorizer and a urine digester. This will loosen up the urine and allow us to flush it away. The first rule of odor removal is to remove the source of the odor - that being the urine. So once that the urine is flushed out of the rug we can begin the scrubbing process and wash and rinse your rug.
Will we get all of the stains out???? Maybe not as urine is extremely hard on the wool fibers causing color loss and texture change, but we can get the odor out for you. I can not guarantee that Fido will not go back to the rug again but now your rug is fresh and clean.

So if Fido maybe was just a little under the weather and made a mistake all will be good now or if he is ill then please get him cured before putting you rug back on the floor.
If you have any questions please call me at 513-251-2351 or email me at orientalrugman@hotmail.com

From Sheep to Rug

From Sheep to Rug
Wool is by far my favorite fiber. It is warm, resilient, and looks darn fine in an Oriental Rug. Did you ever wonder about how it went from the sheep to the rug?

First the sheep is sheared. This looks painful to the animal but is really only a hair cut. From there is it is washed and rinsed - because lets face it - the sheep do not shower on a regular basis, and then it is thoroughly dried.

Next it is “carded”. During this process the wool fibers are continually brushed between two brushes that resemble dog brushes. This process straightens out and blends the fibers together into a consistency that will be easier to spin into the wool thread.

Then it is time to spin the wool. There are many different ways to spin the wool using several different tools to turn the wool fibers into thread. This is then coiled into skeins to ready for the dying process.

The dyes are usually in large boiling pots with the proper mixture of colors and chemicals to set the dye. There is a whole science in the dying of yarn that we will not go over at this time. The boiling dye not only colors the yarns but it also will “set the twist” of the yarn to hold it texture through the weaving process.

The wool is dried and then the weaving of the rugs can begin. I have made this sound like an easy process but it is all rather time consuming and in the end you get to have a very nice Oriental Rug on your floor that will give you years of enjoyment.

I Have Dog Hair in my Oven

We just finished waiting on a customer who had a few interesting stories about dog hair in her home. Let me preface this with they own a large Golden Retriever who is just about as sweet a dog that God has ever blessed a home with.

She brought in three small rugs that had their fair share of dog hair on them. She mentioned that she and her son vacuumed the devil out of the rugs last night but in just a matter of a few short hours there were more hairs on them. She apologized for the hair and as I always say “We love dirty rugs” and there was no need to apologize. We are able to clean the rugs and will do our best to make them hair free.

She said that the dog is so sweet but she has recently found dog hair in the oven! She was certain that the pooch only enjoyed sleeping on the king sized bed while they were out but now it appears that he also enjoys a hot lunch before retiring to the bed. What we put up with for our pets!

If your pet is shedding or for any other cleaning problem associated with your pet please call us at 513-251-2351 with any questions or email me at orientalrugman@hotmail.com.

Rug Storage

At sometime you may be forced to store your Oriental Rugs while construction or some other situation is happening at your home. When this comes up please bring in your rugs for a good old fashioned cleaning and we can wrap them for storage in a tyvek type wrap with sealed ends. We may also, at your request, put some moth crystals in the rug to keep little bugs at bay.

Ideally your rugs should be stored in an attic or perhaps under a bed away from any water. Do not store them on the basement floor as concrete is porous and will allow water to “wick” up into the rugs causing mold and mildew.

I had a customer of mine who stored her rugs in a detached garage on the floor. After two years she wanted to use them again and was very surprised when they were “rotted” away with mildew. So please come to us for the best storage tips so that your rugs will be preserved for many years of future enjoyment.

Call me with your questions at 513-251-2351 or email me at orientalrugman@hotmail.com.

I See Flying Moths!

Those four little words will strike terror in the hearts of anyone with wool items in your home!

Moths have begun to make a comeback due to the fact that there are less pesticides that we are able to use today that will not hurt the environment. Hopefully you can prevent those little critters from eating their way across your rugs and sweaters by simply taking some precautions.

Moths love a dark environment (under the furniture) to lay their eggs. When the hatch they “eat” their way out while in the larvae stage. There will look like little worms on your rugs. Their have ferocious appetites – but they are “picky eaters”. Wool is their favorite food and will eat the face of the rug while leaving the cotton foundation.
Once you see them flying the damage is done and the cycle starts over again.

You can help to prevent moths by not introducing into the home any raw wool products such as yarns for knitting that you have not checked over carefully. A very good friend went to Africa and brought back a small figurine with a fur dress on and in that dress were the eggs/larvae that started a chain of events in her home that ultimately included a very expensive extermination process. She was not a happy camper with all of the reweaving on her Oriental Rugs.

Also keep your rugs vacuumed and have them professionally cleaned to help prevent moths. Moths prefer a dirty environment to one that is clean. Also be sure to clean other woolen items in your home as well. Last but not least there are good old moth balls. When used sparingly the odor is not that bad and the moths do like them.

If you have an active infestation please call me and then bring in the rug as we are able to “bleach wash” the rug and then dry at high temperatures to kill them.

If you have any questions about moths please feel free to contact me at 513-251-2351 or email me at orientalrugman@hotmail.com.

Odd Shape Rugs

A wonderful customer of mine, was just in and brought in a rug she owns that is in the shape of a flower. It is a machine made rug with vibrant colors of red, orange and yellow. She uses this rug from the garage into the home so it collects some dirt.

The point of this post is let you know that rugs do not need to only be rectangular in shape. This week alone we have seen flowers, pears, apples and at the holiday times we have seen rugs shaped like Christmas Trees. Although I am most fond of Oriental Rugs I have seen some very nice odd shaped rugs that would fit very well in the right decorating scheme.

As always you should use a pad under these rugs and we are able to “custom cut” pads to fit them.

If you have any questions about cleaning an odd shape rug please feel free to call me at 513-251-2351 or email me at orientalrugman@hotmail.com.

Kitchen Rugs

A client brought in several rugs from their kitchen for cleaning. I must say that of all of the rugs in the home the ones in the kitchen seem to get the most use for obvious reasons.

In my home we practically live in the kitchen. When guests come over there is always the largest gathering in the kitchen and with all of the people come the spills and foot traffic. So it make good sense to bring in the kitchen rugs more often to have them cleaned.

We will first “dust” the rug which is a large machine that the rug goes through upside down and leather straps “beat” the back forcing the dry particulate to fall away from the rug. Next it goes to the wash floor where it is given an old fashioned scrub with soap and water followed by a trip through the Mor Rug Cleaning Machine where more soap and water and brushes scrub the surface. It next travels to the rinse bed where clean cold water bathes the rug to remove and soap and dirt left in it. It then takes a trip through the wringer where most of the water is extracted followed by a trip to the dry room. There we dry the rugs quickly with forced air heat.

The next day we drop the rugs, inspect them and roll them in kraft paper for the trip home to your kitchen.

Let us clean your kitchen rugs and get them in shape for the summer season.

If you have any questions about cleaning rugs please call me at 513-251-2351 or email me at orientalrugman@hotmail.com.


BB/04/08/2009