Cleaning Oriental Rugs On-Location
On-location cleaning of oriental and other fine rugs is not normally recommended. In-plant cleaning gives the rug owner a better value by improving results and protecting their investment. In-plant cleaning allows you the opportunity to correct any problems which arise during cleaning (before anyone else sees it). Often two days are required to properly clean and dry a rug. Controlled drying conditions are next to im-possible on-location and are best at an in-plant site. Specialized tools and equipment are not easily used on-location. Your in-plant facility may be a 10,000 sq. ft., fully automated washing plant or it may be your freshly cleaned driveway or garage floor. (se page 29) Whichever the case, it is still better than cleaning on-location.
In rare cases it may be necessary to clean rugs on-location (i.e. customer will not allow you to remove the rug from their site or sight). Keep in mind these additional concerns. Proper dry soil removal is go¬ing to make a mess. You may have to do it outside or cleanup afterwards. The floors must be protected from water and cleaning agents, dyes may bleed during cleaning or drying. You may need to take ex¬tra measures to ensure fast drying. You may have to return the following day to inspect results, make corrections (while explaining why this is nothing to be concerned about) and pick up drying equipment. Floor cleaning or restoration may now be required. We do not recommend on-location cleaning of rugs, as your primary mode of operation.
ON-LOCATION CLEANING
If you have to, first complete a thorough inspection of the rug(s). Test for colorfastness. We do not recommend cleaning bleeders or other “problem” rugs on-location. Next, set up a work area. It needs to be a clean area and it also needs to be protected from any damage from your cleaning activities. Remove dry soils as best as you can on-location.
On-location rug cleaning is best accomplished with dry cleaning. For decades, rug cleaners have found the Ultra Dry System effective and satisfying for their customers. This is also a great system for cleaning rugs which cannot be immersion cleaned (i.e. cloth backed rugs & composite rugs with shrinkage issues or rugs too large for plant and pit cleaning). Pre-spray the face pile and fringe with Ultra Dry Natural & Fine Fibers. Work in with hand groomer or nap brush. Allow a five to ten minute dwell time, but do not allow the rug to dry out. Reapply Ultra Dry if necessary.
Low moisture rinse the rug with Ultra Catalyst Natural & Fine Fibers solution. Mix Ultra Catalyst at 16:1 (8 oz./gal.) with warm (100° to 130°F) water. Submerse Ultra Clean Pads into the Ultra Catalyst solution and wring out excess solution with a pad squeezer. Place wrung out Ultra Clean Pad on the heaviest soiled area of the rug.
Immediately spin Ultra Clean Pad over the entire rug surface and fringe with side-to-side overlapping passes with a low speed (approximately 175 rpm) floor machine. Clean up to about 50 square feet, then flip the pad over and reclean area just covered, put aside spent Ultra Clean Pads and wring out a new pad for further cleaning. Do not reuse soiled pads until laundered. Never place soiled pads back into Ultra Catalyst solution, always use “new” clean pads. Never run pads on dry rugs.
Comb out fringes with a fringe brush, groom the face and speed dry the rug with air movers. If fringes need more attention, use Fringe Cleaner and /or Fringe Whitener.
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