Preservation

Hand-Knotted Rugs: Cleaning Without Damaging Them

A hand-knotted rug is a conservation object that happens to be on a floor. How it was made decides how it can be cleaned.

What matters, and why.

Dye stability first

Traditional and natural dyes are not reliably colourfast under alkaline chemistry. Any competent cleaner dye-tests at the fringe before touching the pile.

Why domestic shampoo ruins them

Alkaline products make natural dyes bleed into adjacent wool. It is not reversible and it is the most common way a valuable rug is destroyed.

Off-site and flat

Fine pieces are cleaned flat with controlled drying rather than on the floor. Drying a knotted rug in place risks the foundation.

Damp and the foundation

A rug left damp, or stored rolled in a humid room, develops rot in the cotton foundation long before anything shows on the pile.

If this is something you would rather hand over, our specialist cleaning and restoration is scoped at an inspection and confirmed in writing before any work begins. We will also tell you when a job does not need us.

Questions

Answered plainly.

Vacuumed, yes, gently and on both sides. Wet cleaning belongs off site.

More sensitive rather than harder. Neutral chemistry, cooler water, shorter dwell times.

Some lift. Dye migration and previous poor cleaning usually cannot be reversed, and we say which is which before starting.