What is the Best Way to Clean Rugs

Want to know What is the Best Way to Clean Rugs?

This video compares the differences between in home extraction and in plant rug washing for Ottawa area rug owners and demonstrates how in plant rug washing is not only the safest option but will result in the deepest cleaning as well. Contact us for a free quote and to set up an appointment!

Video Transcript

Every so often, our area rugs need to be cleaned.The question arises, “What’s the best, deepest, safest way to get it washed?.” Hi I’m Murray Peacock, owner of Peacock Rug Care. Many carpet cleaners tell their customers that rugs can be cleaned properly in your home, instead of taking it to a rug washing plant. We tend to disagree, especially for your precious area rugs… this is not the best choice. Today we would like to compare the difference between having your rug cleaned in home and washed in our rug plant. The fact is, There are really only four ways to clean a rug in home.

  • Hot Water Extraction
  • Bonnet
  • Dry Foam
  • Encapsulation

We would like to demonstrate the most popular, and probably the most effective of on location methods, hot water extraction. We will use two different types of rugs, a woven synthetic area rug, and a hand knotted persian gabbeh rug. To start, lets give them a thorough dry vacuuming. Now we’ll spray them with a an environmentally safe detergent. We’ll allow a few minutes for it to work in. Now the extraction begins. This is done twice to make sure the rugs are clean. To put icing on the cake, lets apply an encapsulation and agitate it in. The encapsulant will take care of any remaining soils that we may have left behind. The rug is done. There are a few drawback to what we just did. Having the rug cleaned on the hardwood floor can lead to scratched or water damaged floors. Once the rug is cleaned, it stays wet on your floor. This wet period is when bleeding or mildewing can easily start, by then the technician is long gone. At this point, the rugs have had 24 hours to dry out. This would be what your rugs would look like if they were cleaned in you home. They actually look quite nice. But are they really clean? Let’s find out by washing these same rugs using the Peacock process. We always start by a thorough inspection of the rug. We then dust out the compacted grit that gets buried in the foundation. As you can see, there were lots of dry soils left in this rug. They now get to go for a swim in our wash tub for a complete washing and sanitizing. This unique machine gently agitates them, mimicking the gentle motion of hand washing. After the wash is complete, the rug is removed from the wash tub, laid out and post treated. Just look at what has been left in these rugs. Lets not forget, these rugs were already cleaned with on location cleaning methods. The rugs are now placed into our special centrifuge where the soils inside the rug are completely rinsed out, leaving the rug fresh and clean inside out. Unlike home cleaning where a good deal of moisture remains in the fiber, this effectively removes almost all of the moisture. It is then laid out and the pile is reset. Not only has the top of the fibers been cleaned, but the entire structure has been flushed out. The rugs are hanged in our climate controlled dry room and dried in a matter of hours. The next day we address any stubborn stains, perform our finishing processes, wrap and deliver. All of these steps take several hours to complete and in home cleaning, a mere few minutes. But is that really a thorough cleaning? Not at all… Yes, sending your rugs out may cost a little more, but the end result is worth every penny.

If you have any questions about what is the best way to clean rugs please feel free to call us at 613-232-5110 or send us an email at office@peacockrugcare.ca. We would love to hear from you.

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