Care

How Our Vintage Rugs Are Washed and Restored

By Storied Rugs8 min read

In stock now: 2006 Persian rugs

Pale cream rug on dark oak floorboards in a stone farmhouse sitting room with a linen armchair, an olive tree and open casement windows.

A Persian rug is washed by hand, flat on the floor, and never in a machine. It is dusted and its colors are tested, then it is soaked, washed with a mild soap, rinsed clean and dried without heat.

Every rug on this site went through the same six steps before it was photographed. They are inspection and dusting, a color test, a hand wash, drying without heat, repairs to the ends and edges, and photography. That is what “professionally washed and restored” means when we write it on a listing. This page walks through each step, so you know what you are buying.

Each rug arrived at our Vancouver warehouse as a used rug, sometimes straight from a home in Persia or Turkey, sometimes from a dealer’s stack. The washing and repairs are done for us by outside specialists we have trusted for years, and the steps below are the ones every rug goes through with them. Each one left their wash floor clean, repaired and ready to be walked on for another fifty years.

Step one: inspection and dusting

Each rug is unrolled, measured and inspected on both sides. We note the origin, along with any stains, holes, worn ends or curled corners, and any damage from moths.

Then the rug is dusted. A hand-knotted rug holds a surprising amount of dry soil deep in the pile.^[1] Wash a rug without dusting it first and that soil only turns to mud.^[2] The rug is beaten and vacuumed from the back until no more dust comes out, which can take a while for a room-size rug. For a small rug at home in winter, see cleaning a wool rug in the snow.

Step two: color testing

Before any water touches the rug, every color is tested for bleeding. Vintage rugs from the 1970s mostly use stable dyes, but some reds and some later synthetic dyes will run. A small damp cloth is pressed onto each color, and the cloth shows how the rug should be washed. Anything that moves gets cold water and a fast dry. A rug whose colors stay put gets a normal wash.

Two white cotton cloths on a red and navy wool rug after a dye test, one with a faint pink trace, and a water glass — A color test before washing. A damp white cloth pressed onto each color shows whether a dye will run, and a faint pink trace like this one means cold water and a fast dry.

Step three: the wash

The rug is laid flat and soaked. Then it is washed with a mild, neutral soap and soft brushes, always in the direction of the pile. Steam and strong chemicals are not used. Both can damage the wool fibers themselves and leave the pile looking dull. The rug is rinsed until the water runs clear, then rinsed again, because soap left in the pile attracts dirt.^[1]

Soaked vintage rug under soap foam on a concrete wash floor, a wooden squeegee across it and rinse water running to a drain — Washing happens flat on the floor, not in a machine. The water is drawn off in the direction of the pile, over and over, until it runs clear.

Deep stains get individual attention. Pet stains, old spills and rust marks each need a different approach, and some marks in a fifty-year-old rug are permanent, so ask us about any rug’s condition before you buy.

Step four: drying

Drying is where most damage to rugs happens, so it is done carefully and without heat. The rug is pressed to remove as much water as possible. Then it is hung or laid flat in a room with steady air movement until the foundation is dry all the way through. A thick Heriz can take three days. Rushing this step with heat can cause shrinkage and a wavy rug, and drying too slowly invites mildew.

Washed vintage rugs hanging over wooden poles in a whitewashed drying room with floor fans, one more rug lying flat on a slatted platform — Drying in a room with steady moving air and no heat. Getting the water out evenly matters as much as getting the dirt out, and a rug dried too fast in one spot may never lie quite flat again.

Step five: restoration

Once dry, the rug goes to the restorer’s bench. This is the work done most often:

Ends. The fringe and the flat-woven band at each end are the first parts of a rug to wear. Loose ends are secured so the knots cannot unravel, and the band is rebuilt where it has gone.
Edges. The wool binding along the long sides gets rewrapped where it is worn through.
Holes and moth damage. Small areas are rewoven with matching wool. Large ones we generally do not buy, because a heavily rewoven rug is no longer the rug it was.
Curled corners. Stretched flat and stitched so the corner sits down.

We do not have a worn rug shaved down to hide the wear, or colors painted back onto a faded one. Both are common in the trade, and both misrepresent condition. What you see in the photographs is what the wool looks like. If a rug you already own needs this kind of work, Persian rug repair explains what can be fixed and when it is worth it.

Corner of a vintage wool rug on a pine repair bench, its side edge freshly rewrapped in dark red wool beside the worn old binding — At the repair bench, the binding along a worn side edge is rewrapped with matching wool. Next to the new wrapping you can see the old binding, worn thin. The ends get the same care, as our post on rug fringe explains.

Step six: photography and listing

The finished rug is photographed flat under daylight-balanced light, front and back. We add close-ups of the pile and the ends. We measure the rug again after washing, because a rug can change size slightly in the wash.^[3] The numbers on the listing come from that final measurement. If you want to know more about a rug’s wear, including thin areas and old repairs, ask us and we will send more photos.

Deep red Heriz rug with a large geometric medallion and ivory corners in a loft with concrete floors, a linen sofa and steel windows. — A Persian Heriz, 7 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 7 inches, as it looks at the end of the process: washed, dried, repaired and ready to lie flat in a room.

Questions about washing a Persian rug

How often should a Persian rug be cleaned?

Vacuum it often with suction only, and have it washed by a specialist every few years, depending on the room. A rug in a busy hall, a kitchen or a home with pets needs a wash sooner than one in a quiet bedroom. Between washes, regular vacuuming does most of the work.

Can you wash a Persian rug yourself, or in a washing machine?

You can vacuum a Persian rug, shake out a small one and spot clean a spill yourself, but a full wash is a job for a specialist. Keep it out of the washing machine, because the drum twists a soaked rug and strains its foundation. Our post on how to clean a wool rug at home covers what is safe to do yourself.

How much does it cost to have a Persian rug cleaned?

Only a cleaner who has seen the rug can tell you. Its size, its condition, any stains and any repairs all change the price, and pickup and delivery may add to it. Ask for a written quote, and ask how the rug will be washed: by hand, then dried without heat, is what you want. For repairs, Persian rug repair explains what drives the cost.

How can you tell a real Persian rug?

Turn it over: on a hand-knotted rug the pattern shows clearly on the back, in rows of small, slightly uneven knots. Our post on how to tell if a Persian rug is real covers the other checks.

What this means for you

A vintage rug that has been through this process arrives ready to use. There is no smell, no dust cloud when you unroll it and no loose end waiting to unravel. It also sheds very little, because fifty years of footsteps and a thorough wash have already taken out the loose fiber.

From there it needs a normal vacuum and the occasional rotation. Our rug care page covers the day-to-day. If something happens to your rug later, write to us. We would rather have a rug we sold repaired than see it thrown out.

When you are ready to look, browse the collection. Every rug in it was washed and restored by specialists we trust before it was listed, and shipping is free and insured to the US and Canada.

If you want to know what this process is protecting, read what makes a vintage rug worth keeping. Once a rug is home, how to clean a wool rug at home covers the upkeep. The rugs we listed most recently are gathered in new arrivals.