Rug Care
Looking after a rug that has already lasted eighty years.
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.
Four habits that do most of the work
None of this takes special equipment. Getting these four right matters more than anything you could buy.
Beater bar off
Suction alone is enough. A rotating brush pulls at the knots and accelerates wear along the pile.
Never 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
Felt, or felt-and-rubber. Stops slipping, cushions the knots against the floor, and adds years to the pile. It also protects your floor.
Even fading is character. A hard line is damage.
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.
Speed matters far more than technique
Three ways a good rug gets ruined
Each of these is a normal, sensible thing to do to a modern carpet. None of them belong near a hand-knotted one.
No steam or carpet 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. A dry cleaner is not that trade.
Never store in plastic
Trapped moisture causes mildew and dry rot. Roll it pile side in, around a tube, and wrap it in a breathable cotton sheet or Tyvek.
Roughly every five years, and it is preventative
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 fibers 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 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, the places a vacuum rarely reaches. If you see any of these three, isolate the rug and get it professionally treated promptly. Moth damage compounds fast.
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.
More on this: protecting a rug from sun, pets and spills.
Ask us about a specific rug