Oriental Rugs......i'm Happy To Help.

Martin Bailey

Cleantalk Member
What I didn't say was that it's been underwater in a flooded cellar. It was dry when I received it. I've fixed the odour problem but any advice anyone on restoration of the texture? Wrong forum thread maybe.
 

John Bolton

Cleantalker Veteran
Martin,

It sounds like either the foundation yarns may have shrunk or they have stiffened by a contamination.

If you are confident that your cleaning and odour treatment have not left contamination of some nature then resolving the issue will not be easy, if at all possible.

Some years back I managed to restore most of the flexibility by rolling the dampened rug along the warp, first one way then the other. this was repeated many times.

My advice would be that if the customer will accept the rug in its' now stiffened condition, you do not attempt the above as it is not without risk. If there has been some rot, the yarns could break and you could be facing a compensation claim. At the moment you have restored the rug to a usable state and as long as it is not a contamination issue, no blame can be levelled at yourself.
 

Robert Aigin

Cleantalk Member
They cannot make a claim against you when they gave you a flood damaged rug.
Try a fine wire brush on the pile, the other top tip is to rub a pumice stone over the pile. Both options are risk free.
 

John Bolton

Cleantalker Veteran
Robert,

I read it as a stiff foundation but your suggestion would certainly work on the pile. For that situation I have used a pile-lifter set fairly high. I suppose a CRB machine with appropriate brushes would also work.
 

Martin Bailey

Cleantalk Member
All good advice thanks. The pile is very short but soft enough. The stiffness is in the foundation. There's no question of blame, I was employed to clean and deodourise.
 

Tony Woods

Cleantalk Member
Good morning

I am a fourth generation rug dealer with 35 years experience personally.
I have noticed lots of posts questioning the value and authenticity of rugs on this forum.
If anyone would like to make use of my knowledge of rugs I will be very happy to advise on value, and photos permitting, where the rug comes from. I will also be happy to advise the likely problems that can occur with a particular rug, such as colour run or uneven shrinkage.

The most important thing to know about cleaning rugs, is to know the ones NOT to clean. In other words, most rugs will not give you any problems, but you need to recognise the ones that will as they are the ones that will cost YOU money.

There is good money to be made cleaning rugs, and customers are happy to pay it to someone they have confidence in. I charge £30 psm for wool, and £60 psm for silk.

If you invest some time learning the basics about rugs, you will find it pays you back.

Here to help if anyone wants it.

Regards

Robert Aigin
Hi Robert, where could I get the best training to identify and clean these types of rugs.....it's time you put a course together lol
 

Robert Aigin

Cleantalk Member
Kevin
Your rug looks like a Persian Kashan, around 80 years old. I can’t be sure without a good photo of the weave on the back.
mid it’s in good condition I think it would retail for around £2500.

Martin,
I don’t know what to say about your photo. It looks Persian but the hairy back is something I’ve only seen on machine made rugs. I would need to inspect this to give a reasonable opinion.
 

Robert Aigin

Cleantalk Member
Hi Tony
There are courses that are spoken about on here for cleaning rugs.
As far as identification courses are concerned, I don’t think there are any. I did organise a rug warehouse visit a few years ago where I showed and talked about rugs. There were five or six people from the forum that attended, I think it opened their eyes to the range of rugs out there, but it’s only an introduction to rugs, it takes years to really get to grips with them.
if there’s another group that would like to visit the warehouse again I’d be happy to take you.
 

John Bolton

Cleantalker Veteran
Tony,

A few years ago several of us attended a 2-day course organised by Nick at Solutions, taught by Aaron Grossclose and Ellen Amirkhan. I have to say that though it was very interesting, much has been forgotten. Like most things if it is not brought to mind with sufficient frequency the mental cobwebs form on much of the information.
 

Robert Aigin

Cleantalk Member
Hi Craig

It's very hard from such small photos.
It looks like a Turkish Keyseri but I cant see the weave to be sure.
If it is, then to replace it would cost around£2-2500 retail.
I'd like to see a better photo of the weave to be sure it's even hand-made.
 

Robert Aigin

Cleantalk Member
Hi Craig
Well it's hand-made and it's Turkish. It isn't Kayseri as it's not fine enough.
I can't put a name to this one I'm afraid, but for that size carpet the valuation would be about the same maybe a few hundred less. £1800-£2200.
 
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