The real orientals get hung out for a few days and beat with a rug beater in the spring and cleaned...infrequently. The last time was about 6 years ago. Maybe 8 years before that.

The others I usually dont keep around that long.

Winter rugs for the entry are washed at the laundromat at the end of the season unless there's company early in the year.

I've never cleaned my orientals. They are vacuumed regularly. We have no pets.

Take it in? In where?

Littlebug, many good oriental rug stores will also offer a cleaning service. They come to pick up the rugs, move furniture to remove rugs, clean the rugs, bring them back and place them back under furniture etc. I probably remember to do it every 5 years or so. I have dogs and we allow shoes in the house.

Well, glad to hear this isn't done frequently by others. I've had my big oriental living room rug for over 20 years and I think this is the first time I've had it cleaned. We have cats who have barfed on it a few times. It has a very tight weave so easy to clean spills and such but I'm glad to be having it completely cleaned. I also took a couple smaller inexpensive wool rugs from my kitchen that are newer but definitely needed to be cleaned. My entry rug is also newer but looks fine and I think gets mostly vacuum-able dirt so I didn't take that one in this time. All my rugs are dark patterns so they don't show dirt or spills.

We have a rug laundry about 15 minutes from my office that's been in business since 1895. You get 20% off if you bring it in yourself and we managed to fit the big one in my SUV.

The rug laundry tried to sell me a pad for the rug. I've never had one as I'm skeptical about putting those things on my wood floors. This one had some kind of rubber-ish backing that I'm really skeptical of. I will ask the guy who's doing my wood floors what he thinks about this. I know the topic of rug pads has been discussed here before.

Our daughter in grad school showed up at our doorstep last Friday morning, as a wonderful Mother’s Day surprise for me. Since then, my adorable little grand dog, India, has peed on 3 rugs, two just this morning. I’m hauling all of them outside in a few minutes to hose down and let dry in the sun. Ugh! But, that said, we have brick floors with Middle Eastern and Orientsl rugs throughout. When Miss India isn’t here relieving herself on them, I regularly vacuum and use baking soda on them to keep them fresh and clean. And, like today, I occasionally haul them outside to wash with a hose. I never take them to a professional rug cleaners.

I should have mine cleaned and moth-proofed. I don't see any moth damage but I occasionally see moths flying around. It's in a room with a big picture window. I moved a big chair to vacuum and noticed that the part of the rug that's not under the furniture is getting sun faded. I'd like to turn it around so it fades equally!

I have 2 flat weave rugs (one I am sure is wool but the other may just look/feel like wool) that I spot clean as I notice spills. Then every spring I take the kitchen one outside, spray with carpet cleaning solution, gently broom that in, then rinse with the power washer (it is not a really high powered one) and allow to dry. It has held up well to this treatment for the past 4 years. The family room rug (the one that I am sure is wool, it is a West Elm dhurrie) was a curb rescue that had dog pee on it -- same treatment with the addition of a good spray down with Nature's Miracle before rinsing -- good as new! I won't need to repeat the thorough cleaning for another year or two, I think.

Any rug in a high traffic area needs regular cleaning -- even with vacuuming, dirt accumulates in the fibers, slowly making it dingy and possible damaging the rug.

Get weekly vacuuming but to the cleaners only in case of stains I can’t clean not in a set schedule.

i have a mid priced runner that was really stained from heavy traffic. The 14’ runner cost about $200, I paid $100 to professionally clean. Not sure this was a good decision. Maybe s/b bought a new one

The living room oriental is 14 years old. Had it cleaned and repaired recently for the first time.

The family heirloom oriental was bought by uncle in 1920s. Only cleaned once 20 years ago. Heavy use but still looks new. Amazing

I think I read somewhere that fine rugs should only be wet cleaned if it’s absolutely necessary as opposed to on a regular basis. I think it has to do with shrinkage and/or weakening and/or fading of the dyes.

The few times ours were cleaned in the last 25 years or so, they were picked up, cleaned off site and returned. They’re also measured before and after.

Edited to add that some are in need of serious repair due to fading and dogs and vacuum cleaners chewing up the fringe. :/

CindyMac:

What type of repairs did you have done?

Who repaired it — someone local or did you send it away?

Are you pleased with the results?

Care to share pictures?

:)

I don't have fancy/antique rugs. Stanley Steemer comes twice a year to steam clean.

Sammy, the rug company provided pick up and delivery. In addition to cleaning the sides were restitched.

I get mine cleaned every other year. My thinking is that dirt embedded in the pile will wear the rug out faster.

I have never had our oriental rugs cleaned. The DR rug is over 30 years old and looks just like new, despite 3 kids, numerous dog and cats. We use our DR frequently so it is well loved. Our LR rug is less than 10 years old, and again has never been cleaned, nor does it need it. We spot clean as necessary due to doggy accidents. Both rugs are too large and heavy to take outside to beat or wash with a hose. I do have several smaller rugs, but again they are old and in great shape. I never saw the need for professional cleaning. Regular vacuuming and spot cleaning has always been our routine.

Okay, I think each of my better rugs has been cleaned once in 20 years and some never. I think I’m on the once in my lifetime plan if there seems to be some reason to do it.

I can see hosing down synthetic rugs but hard to imagine doing that to an expensive wool rug. I have some newer polypropylene braided rugs that I bought with the idea I could wash them outside with the hose. Lately I’ve been wondering how long it takes to get them dry and where you put them while they’re drying. One is in the kitchen at our lake home and it’s been slopped on quite a bit. Still looks okay but eventually I will want to try to clean all the gunk out of it.

I remember reading about cleaning rugs upside down on the snow covered lawn and beating with the rug beater to knock the dirt out, as they supposedly did in the old days. Never tried it, but thought it was intriguing.

This thread made me rethink and research how often I have my rugs cleaned. According a piece on 1stdibs where they interviewed experts from Doris Leslie Blau, Double Knot and Nazmiyal, the official answer is every five years is a good guideline for having rugs cleaned.

Gsciencechick, we don’t have fancy rugs either so I am wondering if your rugs are on wood flooring and if so, do you have to take the rugs off the flooring to clean them? I’m worried the moisture will ruin the wood floors but our rug is heavy so moving it would be hard.

Our oriental rugs are small area rugs and runners. I take them outside in the driveway, wash with a mild detergent, hose off well, and drape them over sawhorses. Let them dry in the sun.

My large area rug is wool, but wasn't expensive and I decided to try cleaning it myself with a Hoover -- it worked great, so I clean every couple years, or once a year if it really needs it. lukkiirish, my rug is on a wood floor so I bought a larger plastic "drop cloth" type sheet and slide it under the rug when I clean it (I fold the rug in half to slide the plastic under). Shockingly, it really doesn't even feel damp beneath, but I leave the plastic a few days to be sure it's fully dry.

Yes, ours are on wood floors, but with the high pressure steam from Stanley Steemer, they are practically dry when they pull up the water. I have taken them outside, though. I also try to avoid super cold days.

When I had pets, I spot cleaned my decent quality orientals as needed and used a Hoover once a year or so. I would have them taken out and professionally cleaned about every five years. Now that I’m petless, and shoeless indoors, I’ll probably go longer than five years. An old friend from Iran told me that they used to take their rugs out on the patio and soap them up and hose them off, and leave to dry. He said it was a big treat for kids to play on the wet soapy rugs, but he didn’t say how often they were done.

I don't have any very expensive ones. I take a Hoover Steam Cleaner/Shampooer over the synthetic ones once or twice a year. Any spills or cat throw up (because they can't move over two feet to do it on the other floor...) we'll scrub up as soon as we find it. I normally use the Rug Dr. cleaner. I use it on the wool silk rug too with no issues. That rug surprisingly is wearing like iron.

As a general observation I know a lot of people (including myself) think that wall to wall carpet is dirty and gross. I have it but try not to think too hard about germs and when shoes are worn in the house. Even though it's starting to look worn there are no stains so I feel it looks fairly 'clean' but I see what comes out of the shampoo water. Even though I vacuum regularly it's brown and filled with some cat hair and dirt. I don't know what I'd do it I had a large quality oriental. I do know of a local antique rug place and I believe I saw on their sign they do repairs and cleanings. I'd probably take mine outside to air out and use a rug beater. I might occasionally take it to have 'professionally' cleaned but what do they really do? If it's chemicals do I really want that on my rug? We come into contact with chemicals all the time though. Off the top of my head, I use makeup everyday and don't give a second thought as to what's it in as long as it's performing to my expectations.

Sun and fresh air do amazing things though.

Thank you Gsciencechick and Party_Music50!!!! (Plastic liner, what a great idea!)