Rug Care
A hand-knotted rug that has already lasted fifty or eighty years will outlast you too, if you let it. Wool is remarkably forgiving — most of what shortens a rug's life is well-meant intervention rather than neglect.
Everyday care
- Vacuum with the beater bar off. Suction alone is enough. A rotating brush pulls at the knots and accelerates wear along the pile.
- Never vacuum the fringe. It is the rug's warp — the structural foundation, not decoration. Fringe caught in a vacuum head is one of the most common ways a sound rug gets damaged.
- Rotate 180° once or twice a year. This evens out both foot traffic and sun exposure so the rug ages uniformly instead of developing a bright half and a worn half.
- Use a pad. A quality felt or felt-and-rubber pad stops slipping, cushions the knots against the floor, and adds years to the pile. It also protects your floor.
Sunlight
Natural dyes soften and shift in strong direct sun. Many collectors consider that gentle fading part of a rug's character, and an evenly faded rug can be lovelier than a new one. What you want to avoid is uneven fading — a hard line where a sunbeam falls. Rotating the rug and drawing sheers during the brightest hours is usually enough.
Spills
Speed matters far more than technique.
- Blot immediately with a clean white cloth. Press straight down. Do not rub — rubbing drives the spill into the foundation and distorts the pile.
- Work inward from the outside edge of the spill so you don't spread it.
- Rinse sparingly with cool water and blot again. Then raise the damp area off the floor and let air move around both sides until it is completely dry.
Avoid hot water, harsh detergents, bleach, and oxygen cleaners. These strip natural dyes, and the damage is permanent in a way the original stain usually is not. If a spill is oily, coloured (wine, coffee, ink), or larger than your hand, stop and call a rug specialist rather than experimenting.
What not to do
- No steam cleaning and no carpet-cleaning machines. They are designed for synthetic wall-to-wall carpet. On a hand-knotted wool rug they set dyes running and can shrink the foundation.
- No dry cleaner. Rug washing is a distinct trade with its own equipment.
- Don't store a rug in plastic. Trapped moisture causes mildew and dry rot. Roll it — never fold — pile side in, around a tube, and wrap it in a breathable cotton sheet or Tyvek.
Professional washing
Every few years — five is a reasonable interval for a rug in a living room, longer for a low-traffic room — a proper hand wash by a rug specialist will lift out the grit that has settled into the base of the pile. That grit is what actually cuts wool fibres underfoot, so washing is genuinely preventative rather than cosmetic. Ask for full immersion hand washing and confirm they work on antique and vintage hand-knotted pieces specifically.
Moths
Moths want wool that sits undisturbed in the dark. A rug that is walked on, vacuumed, and occasionally moved is a poor target. Pay particular attention to the areas under furniture and along the edges of a room. If you see fine webbing, sandy debris, or bare patches where the pile has been grazed to the foundation, isolate the rug and get it professionally treated promptly — moth damage compounds fast.
Repairs
Small problems stay small if you catch them. A loosening selvedge, a fraying end, or a few pulled knots are inexpensive to secure and expensive to ignore, because an unbound edge unravels progressively. If something on a rug you bought from us starts to go, send us a photograph — we're happy to tell you whether it's urgent, and to point you to someone good near you.