Not all rugs are created equal. Some are made to be thrown away after a few years of use. Some are made to last tens of years. But if you have a woven rug, washing is the best way to maintain your rug. We do provide oriental rug washing and area rug cleaning for the St. Louis and St. Charles Mo. metro areas. And can help with all of your rug cleaning needs.

What rugs can be washed

Rugs that are woven wool or synthetic can be washed. Although due to the cost of washing, it is normally reserved for the nicer woven wool rugs. Synthetic rugs can be washed but it is not normally worth the cost unless the rug has pet odor issues. We see a lot of each type of rug in the  St. Louis and St. Charles areas.

The picture to the right is a woven wool rug that would be washed. If you have a wool rug that has a solid fabric on the back (where you can not see the colors that are on the top) then your rug will most likely be cleaned instead of washed. Cleaning is still a good process especially for a rug with a backing or a synthetic rug. But washing a rug is the best way we can get most of the soil out.

Why Wash Rugs?

If cleaning rugs is effective, why should you pay extra to have them washed? The best answer to this is there is different levels of clean. When a rug is woven most of the soils will be trapped in the woven area and not in the fibers. Cleaning a rug will remove soils from the fibers not as much from the dense woven area. That is where washing a rug is more effective. When we wash a rug we shampoo the top and we also flip the rug and shampooed the back. This is a very important step, since a good portion of the soil does not come out until after we shampoo the backside. When this is properly done to a woven rug a good amount of the hidden soil is released. A synthetic rug that is machine made will generally not hold as much soil in the woven area as a wool rug that is hand made will.

Normally the value of a rug can help dictate how you would want it cleaned too. A woven wool rug is normally more valuable and normally benefits from washing more so washing a woven wool rug is normally pretty logical. Most synthetic rugs are pretty economical and spending too much to clean the may not be the best option. We can always have a discussion with you prior to cleaning or washing to pick the better option for you. You can contact us at 636-939-1008 or email us at info@precisecarpetcleaning.com for more information on rug cleaning and washing in the St. Louis and St. Charles Mo. areas.