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How to Deal With Dust On Handmade Rugs

Dust On Handmade Rugs, One of the most common problems of any household anywhere in the world is dust on rugs. Those gray tiny, lightweight particles cover up any surface on your home, giving a hint to anybody that this house has not been cleaned. Pain in the neck, isn’t it?

This is not just about the unpleasant look; it’s about the health risks the dust brings as well. Dust might contain many allergen substances like pollen that can lead to severe allergic reactions if inhaled. Moreover, dust comes with millions of bacteria and germs that can cause infestation diseases Silicosis and Asbestosis.

If you’re a handmade rug owner, you should be even more cautious about the dust on your hand-knotted artworks. That is because dust acts as a free ride for thousands of mold, mildew, and fungus into the livable environment of your rugs. These uninvited guests leave holes all over your precious rugs and give an awful stink. So, to protect your valuable rugs and your own health, you should know how to deal with dust. This article gives you useful information on dust and its consequences with some practical tips to handle it.

What is dust?

Dust is most of the time a general term referring to a combination of mold, animal dander, dead bugs, dirt, pollutants, skin flakes, food crumbs, etc.

Where does the dust come from?

Your shoes, your cloth, and even your hair give a free ride to the 60% of your household dust, coming from the outside to your home. Because of their extremely light weight, they easily re-circulate in the air and find their way to your lungs.

The Dust particles are here to stay, they sit on all the surfaces of the room, including your precious Oriental Rugs that trap the dust inside.

How does dust affect your health?

There are millions of microscopic particles in the dust that can enter your respiratory system by inhaling. Dust On Handmade Rugs. These uninvited guests might revoke mild or severe allergic reactions, depending on the person’s immune system. They can also contain dangerous viruses and pass them to your body.

Rugs absorb a surprisingly-high amount of dust into their absorbent fibers. Dust On Handmade Rugs, Never trust a seemingly-cleaned Rug, as there might be so much dust in dirt stuck in the foundation that you can not see and reach by surface-cleaning. Research has shown that by having 200,000 bacteria and 2000 dust mites per square, your rug can be 4000 times dirtier than the toilet seat!

How much dust could a handmade rug have?

You’ll definitely be surprised when you witness the Dusting process on your rug where at least 1 pound per square comes out of your surface-clean rugs. The number could go up to even 5 pound per square for heavily dirty rugs.

Dust damages your rugs

Dust brings thousands of bacteria and mold into the rug’s deep foundation. There, a perfect place is provided for these microorganisms to grow as food, temperature and darkness are all set. Exposure to moisture deteriorates the process by speeding up the growth of bacteria and mold. Dust On Handmade Rugs. They feed on the rug’s fiber and spread an awful smell, resulting in faded color and small holes all over your beloved rugs.

To prevent such damages, we highly recommend you to keep the dust and stain sources away, vacuum your rugs every week, and have them cleaned by a professional at least once a year.

The easiest way to remove dust from the rugs

Vacuum cleaning is a practical way to fight against those wicked dust particles. It’s highly recommended to vacuum your handmade rugs at least once a week to collect the dust from the surface and prevent them from reaching out deeper.

While vacuum cleaning your Oriental rugs, be careful with the airflow. Dust On Handmade Rugs. That is because harsh vacuuming is so harmful to the rug’s foundation and might cause tearing the thread or loosening the foundation. Choose a low airflow setting on the vacuum cleaner and sweep the rug by gentle moves. Furthermore, find out where the rug piles run before you start vacuuming. Then, start vacuuming according to that direction to prevent any damages to the ru

Tips for vacuuming the area rug

 

  • Suppose your rug has recently been cleaned by a professional and does not see heavy traffic regularly. In that case, a quick vacuuming will be all that is needed. If it’s been a long time since your rug was deep cleaned, a more thorough vacuuming may be needed.
  • Vacuum the handmade rugs with low suction. Otherwise, it would damage the threads and the foundation.
  • Avoid a vacuum that has a rotating brush attachment or beater bar. On heavier pile rugs, you can probably run the vacuum over the rug. If you cannot adjust the position of the brush, use upholstery attachments only.
  • Move the vacuum from side to side instead of running it up and down with the length of the rug. That allows you to vacuum across the grain of the fabric, loosening and sucking up dust that would not otherwise come loose.
  • For thinner woven rugs, those with a short pile or no pile, some rug experts use the upholstery attachment to their vacuum cleaner. Again, you want to avoid using the powder brush.
  • Do not vacuum the rug fringes. It will loosen and damage them. Instead, clean them manually by hand.

Is vacuum cleaning enough?

Vacuums pick up surface dirt on carpets & upholstery along with the loose, dry debris that floats in between carpet fibers. Vacuum cleaning fails to get the deep-stuck dirt and dust out of the rug’s foundation.

Rug cleaning also preserves and protects your artistic knotted investment by loosening and removing embedded dirt, soil, and debris that can damage rug fibers over time.

Why You need A Professional Rug Cleaning

As already discussed, home-cleaning methods take care of the surface and the dust and dirt remain stuck in the rug’s depth. That’s why you need to have your handmade rugs deep cleaned, but who is qualified to do that?

Amateur cleaners have absolutely no knowledge of rugs and will clean your rugs the way they mop the floor, which is totally absurd. Dry-cleaners will use harsh chemicals with extremely hot steam that ruin the rug’s delicate fibers instead of restoring their glow. Dust On Handmade Rugs, You need a well-experienced Rug Expert who has a proper knowledge of rugs to find out how to treat each rug based on its material and condition in order to bring no harm to it in the cleaning process. If you’re in the Washington D.C. area, consider professional rug cleaning Washington D.C. services provided by experts who understand the unique requirements of different rugs and can preserve their beauty.

Our Rug Experts at Khazai Rug Cleaning have five generations of experience with Oriental rugs. We take pride in providing the top-quality Oriental Rug Cleaning and Repair in Washington DC, and all its neighboring counties. So don’t worry if your priceless are suffering from stains or damages, leave to the good hands of our Rug Expert to restore their good-as-new elegance.

Author: David Khazai
Author: David Khazai

David Khazai is a 5th-generation rug proficient and certified rug appraiser. As an omniscient author, he explores components and symbolism, making him an exceptional expert in the rug cleaning & repair industry

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