HANDTUFTED CARPET CARE AND MAINTINENCE

DAILY CLEANING
Regular vacuuming is a primary consideration in carpet care. On a cut pile carpet an upright, beater-type vacuum cleaner is recommended. Make sure that the beater bar on your upright vacuum is not set too low. This can cause an irritation of the pile surface and cause sprouting of some tufts of yarn. For loop pile carpets a suction-type vacuum cleaner is recommended to minimize fuzzing and sprouting. While twice a week vacuuming in a residence or medium traffic office is generally sufficient you will do no harm if you vacuum more frequently.

For heavy shag or silk shag type carpet a suction-only type vacuum should be used. A beater type vacuum may cause the long pile lengths to become tangled in the vacuum rotors.

SPOT CLEANING
While there is not guarantee that a stain can be removed, the sooner you tend to a spill or spot the better. The longer the spill remains on the carpet the harder it will be to remove.

A general caution in the treatment of any spill is “BLOT, DO NOT RUB”. Take a white paper towel or some absorbent material and cover the spot with the paper towel. Continue to blot the paper towel over the spill. Continue this process until all of the excess moisture from the spill is absorbed into the paper towel. Keep using fresh dry paper towels. When you think you’ve spent enough time blotting up the spill, continue for another 5 minutes. Make sure when you blot the paper towel over the spill that you can barely wick up any additional moisture. Now take a slightly damp paper towel and repeat the above process to dilute any residual moisture from the spill. Then take a dry paper towel and repeat the process until all excess moisture is removed. If the stain is still visible it is time to call a professional cleaner.
Again, “BLOT DO NOT RUB”

For stains that have been sitting for more than one hour, there are some mild spot removers on the market. Use caution when applying these products and make sure they apply to carpets made from Wool. If you are in doubt call a carpet cleaning professional.

PROFESSIONAL CLEANING
Carpet should be cleaned when they need it. This depends on how much use the carpet gets and how dirty it is. A regular cleaning every one or two years is a good rule of thumb. For Handtufted Carpets and Carpets made from Wool or Wool and Silk, a steam cleaning method is recommended. This is the most effective and least damaging to the carpet. Make sure you use a qualified professional experienced in cleaning wool carpet.

SHADING
Almost all cut pile carpets shade. This effect is caused by a slight directional change in the pile and causes the light to reflect differently on the surface. This effect is similar to that of beautiful velvet fabrics. This condition can be mild to extreme and is an inherent condition of cut pile carpets. This condition is also known as watermarking. THIS IS NOT A MANUFACTURING DEFECT. Although nothing can be done to eliminate this condition, regular vacuuming can help.

SPROUTING
After some use you may experience some sprouting of small tufts of yarn. This is where some loose tufts of yarn will pop up or extend above the surface of the pile. This may occur for several months on a new carpet. On our Silk carpets or silk and wool blends some sprouting may occur of the silk fiber. Silk is a very smooth fiber and small fibers can slip slightly and sprout to the surface. THIS IS A NORMAL OCCURRENCE AND IS NOT A MANUFACTURING DEFECT. Check to see if the beater bar on your vacuum is set too low. This may cause irritation of the pile and cause more fibers to become loose. These individual threads can be cut even with the pile surface. In addition it is possible to experience the unraveling of some yarn in loop pile carpets. If it is one tuft it is okay to cut this. If a piece of yarn has unraveled it may require re-weaving. This is a simple process and IS NOT CONSIDERED A MANUFACTURING DEFECT. Contact our office if this should occur.

SHEDDING
For the first several months a new wool carpet may experience some shedding of fiber. You might vacuum the carpet and notice the entire bag filled with this fiber. This should cause no concern as it is normal and to be expected. Loose fibers, which are not held tightly by the yarn, are being removed. The amount of fiber removed will decrease with each vacuuming and finally be very minimal. You may notice shedding in the areas with the most traffic or where someone sits and moves around their feet. Again this is no concern and IS NOT CONSIDERED A MANUFACTURING DEFECT.

FADING
All dyestuffs used by Decorative Carpets meet or surpass the minimum government standards of fade resistance but no carpet is fade-proof. When carpet or rugs are exposed to sunlight or reflected sunlight THE COLORS WILL FADE. Also, gasses in the air (ie smoke, smog etc.) can cause fading or oxidation of the carpet.

WHITE CARPET OXIDATION
Wool carpets that are dyed white have a tendency to be yellow when first made and then oxidize to a whiter color. Whites are extremely difficult because of the way they have to be dyed from raw wool. The inherent color of the raw wool can make the white dye go yellow or pink in cast.

STATIC ELECTRICITY
During periods of low humidity and when it is very dry a shock may be felt aft walking across the carpet. This harmless but annoying phenomenon can be reduced somewhat by increasing the moisture in the air by using a humidifier.

INDENTATIONS
Indentations develop when furniture sits on a carpet for a long period of time. In most cases they can be taken out by rubbing over the depressed area with the edge of a coin or gently moistening the area with steam from a steam iron and then brushing the affected area. However; after an extended period even a professional steam cleaning will not remove these indentations.