Handknotted Rug - Cleaning and Repair

We went to a client's house recently who had 11 rugs that had been stored in their garage but had not been inspected in about 5 years. To their surprise almost all of the stored rugs had some form of moth infestation. After being initially horrified by the infestation, they wanted to proceed with cleaning and restoration to help save what rugs we could. One was a beautiful red handknotted rug that had always been in their household but now looked in dire need of attention. Moth casing could be seen all over the rug and the ends were unraveling a lot, eating into the design of the rug. Take a look below:

The first thing we did to start the process was give it a deep cleaning. This would ensure that all the moth larvae would be eliminated and would also make sure the rug was sanitized and deodorized. After the cleaning and drying was complete we had one of our master weavers give attention to the ends of the rug so as to stop the unraveling. It was all done by hand and in no time we had the rug's ends secured. This will help greatly in making sure the rug didn't lose its structure and is much more aesthetically pleasing as well. Take a look at the results below:

This handknotted rug now looks great, is totally clean, rid of moth and larvae, and has it's structure saved by having the securing of the ends done. We recommend that everyone who has their rugs in storage or in a garage as it is now moth season. Make sure no moth or moth casings are there, and if there is, bring it to Rug Ideas right away so we can help you with any cleaning and/or repairs it may need. We've seen some unfortunate incidents where the customers' rugs were beyond saving and could not be fixed. So a little preventive measure like scheduled inspections could save those pieces of art that mean so much to you!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085