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Rayon rugs are difficult to clean. As they continue to grow in popularity, be prepared. Cleaners have encountered rayon in upholstery fabric for years. But designers […]

Qualify the rug with your customer as urine damage may cause bleeding during immersion. Also, staining from urine often is permanent on natural fibers. First dust […]

Initially published on Cleanfax July 2018 There are many popular — yet problematic — rugs today. How well do you know them? Here’s a secret: Rug […]

Weavers bring children to work, a rug four years in the making, and anti-US demonstrations in pictures.

This past fall, Master Rug Cleaner hosted a two-week rug tour of Iran. We were extremely fortunate to have Zollanvari, the largest producer of handmade rugs […]

[layerslider id=”2″] Two hot items at retail these days are Tibetan and hand-loomed rugs from India. Rugs woven with a Tibetan knot have been very popular […]

During several recent rug seminars, the topic of bleach has become of interest. Should a rug cleaning specialist use bleach? Let’s take a look at this […]

This past May (2014), Certified Master Rug Cleaner hosted a second rug and cultural tour to the United Kingdom. (Our first tour was to Turkey in […]

What do artificial silk, art. silk, banana silk, viscose, bamboo silk, allo silk, cactus silk, soya silk, modal, cuprammonium, lyocell, triacetate, and acetate have in common? […]

In my last article, which appeared in the May issue of ICS, we discussed rayon viscous or artificial silk [REVIEW] that is often assumed by rug […]

{module Slides – rug Repair 6}Corner repairs are probably one of the most common “rug fixes” needed by your customers. Area rug corners get a lot […]

{module Slides – rug Repair 5} Last time we discussed sides and selvage repair. Now we will look at curling edges – why rugs won’t lay […]

{module Slides – rug Repair 4}  Last time we discussed fringe repair, so now we move on to the second most common repair request – the […]

Customers are often very concerned about fringe appearance, as they want them white and clean In the last rug repair article we discussed rug-end finishes and […]

The most common repair request is correcting damage to a rug’s ends. Last time we discussed general principles of rug repair and how to get started. […]

{module Rug Repair Part 1 Images} Rug repair is a craft requiring knowledge and skill. Why offer rug repair? Being a full service rug cleaning and […]

{module Slides – Turkey Tour 3} This is the final chapter of the Master Rug Cleaner Tour of Turkey. We saw the main tourist destinations of […]

{module Slides – Turkey 2} We began our most excellent Turkish adventure with rug shopping in Istanbul, a visit to Antique Textile Conservation in Izmir and […]

{module Slides – Rug Tour Turkey 1} In the months of May and June (2012), Ellen Amirkhan and I led a group of Master Rug Cleaners […]

Adult clothes moths do not cause damage – it is the larvae, which actually feed on wool, they produce that cause the problem. There are only […]

This time we are going to look at rugs from Turkey. We have not discussed rugs from this country before and it seems time we do. […]

This month we will look at the parameters of cleaning products to successfully clean area rugs – the fifth and last in the series Rug Cleaning […]

In the past three articles of our series Rug Cleaning 101, we discussed the importance of receiving training before starting rug cleaning, why you should be […]

Previously, we discussed the importance of attending a training course before launching into your rug cleaning business. Now let’s turn our attention to the pre-cleaning inspection […]

{xtypo_dropcaps}I{/xtypo_dropcaps}n February (2011) the IICRC “S100 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Carpet Cleaning” was mentioned. The good news is the 2011 Edition is about to […]

I have been writing The Rug Cleaning Specialist for 15 years, and every year another crop of new cleaners dip their toes into the industry waters, […]

When I do rug cleaning courses, invariably a student will say, “Just tell me how to clean it. Why do I need to know what the […]

The rug-cleaning specialist works with customers who tend to have high-value home furnishings. This customer is more affluent and better educated than average, and is concerned […]

Last time, we touched on machine-woven carpet in the United States. The story is incomplete, however, if we ignore how woven carpet developed in Europe.  In […]

If you have attended a rug training course, odds are the Ardabil Carpet was briefly discussed. It is very interesting how a 500-year-old rug and its […]

Several cleaning companies have taken a bold new approach to marketing their services to customers who have concerns about the health of their family.  It is […]

In June we discussed French rugs; today we will look at a Frenchman who revolutionized the weaving of patterned textiles. What does Jacquard have in common […]

We have French toast, French cuffs, French nails, French food, wine and even a kiss, so why are French rugs not well known? Most likely it […]

What happened to the good old days when rugs were, for the most part, wool face-fibers?  Here’s a list of just some of the natural fibers […]

We are all aware of the trend of companies going “green.” This has extended to the rug manufacturing industry as well. If a fiber is from […]

Whether in good times or bad, it is always worth your while to take a look at services with the potential to help increase sales in […]

Due to the series of flooding tragedies in the Midwest, the times seems right to discuss water damage and its impact on Oriental rugs. The homeowner […]

In-plant rug cleaning has a long history in the United States and Europe. In the 1950s the U.S. had more than 200 large in-plant rug cleaning […]

  In several of the calls I have recently received from novice rug cleaners, they describe a rug only as “wool” or “silk.” True, this is […]

With the growing popularity of area rugs, many consumers have stayed with the traditional Oriental rug, while others want a varied and contemporary look that can […]

One of the trends in soft floor covering the rug specialist should be aware of is the hand-tufted rug. This rug has become very popular in […]

Emmanuel’s Rug & Upholstery in Seattle is one of the oldest and most respected rug-cleaning companies in the country. It is a fourth-generation family owned and […]

Consumers and government agencies are not the only ones who are driving the interest (or requirement) of using products and systems that are environmentally preferable or […]

In past pre-cleaning inspection articles we discussed the potential to make costly mistakes when working with the expensive rugs of your clients.  Problems with rugs stem […]

The Rug Renovating Company, the oldest rug cleaning business in the United States, was founded in 1896 in New York and has been family owned and […]

Cleaning, Conservation and Restoration of Fine Rugs Who would you call to clean your museum collection of Navajo rugs, or a newly discovered pre-Columbian textile? Recently, […]

It was 10 years ago when I first discussed with Howard Olansky, the co-founder of ICS Cleaning Specialist, the idea of doing a column on rug […]

In a previous article we discussed the pre-cleaning inspection of specialty rugs. This time we will look at potential problems with hand-knotted rugs. Our industry standard […]

Occasionally, The Rug Cleaning Specialist turns its attention to some of the premier rug cleaning companies around the country, visiting several plants to see what makes […]

  The rug-cleaning specialist is a person who works with customers who tend to have valuable home furnishings. This customer is more affluent, better educated, and […]

  The most important step in rug cleaning occurs before the cleaning process begins. This process is the pre-cleaning inspection of the rug.   We can’t always […]

What is the current state of the rug market? It is strong as ever. In fact, U.S. machine-made rugs can stake claim to about 16 percent […]

Karastan® first began manufacturing rugs in 1928. The original company was part of the department store giant Marshall Field of Chicago. It was called “The Wonder […]

During the last few years, rug cleaners have received mixed signals on pH levels for their cleaning solutions. Is there something new under the sun? Most […]

Carousel Mills is a manufacturer of high-end, all-natural fiber rugs, carpet and tapestries. You may not be familiar with the brand, but you should recognize the […]

  In the September 2003 installment of “The Rug Cleaning Specialist,” we discussed mattress cleaning as an overlooked service. Now, let’s look at marketing guidelines for […]

Many vendors are offering mattress-cleaning business opportunities. Why is this service getting so much attention? Mattress cleaning and allergen removal really started in Europe about 15 […]

The last three installments of “The Rug Cleaning Specialist” have looked at key Persian rugs. This review would not be complete without including rugs from the […]

December 2002 issue of ICS magazine we examined the Hamadan rug. This time we will look at a rug that comes from southwestern Persia – the […]

This is another in a series of looks at key Persian rugs. Kermans are one of the most commonly encountered hand-knotted rugs. In 1270 Marco Polo […]

The United States imposed a ban on Iranian products in 1987 in response to clashes in the Persian Gulf. Since the embargo ended two years ago, […]

{module Slides – moth damage} The professional rug cleaner should know how to identify the clothes moth, the damage the moths can do, how to get […]

I recently presented an overview of rug repair and examined a simple side cord repair. This time we will look at the most common repair your […]

  In the last two Rug Specialist articles, we discussed some simple rug repairs. While rug display is not a repair, it will require some needlework […]

With this much interest by the consumer in anti-allergen cleaning, it’s curious the professional carpet cleaner has been so slow to market their services to this […]

The scientific community has come to the conclusion that better environmental hygiene will improve people’s health. We in the cleaning industry have intuitively known all along […]

It takes more than a love for rugs and textiles to make the appraisal cut. You do not need to be an appraiser to clean and […]

{module Slides – Determining the Value of an Oriental Rug} By educating yourself on how a rug’s value is determined, you can decrease your liability and […]

Wool as a floor covering textile has steadily gained in popularity in recent years. The use of this age-old natural fiber can be traced to the […]

As promised in a past Rug Cleaning Specialist column, I will address the topic of removing fugitive dyes from areas rugs. The principles can be applied […]