The Art of Oriental Rug Washing
Thursday, April 8th, 2021 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Launched in 1985, Superior Carpet & Rug Cleaning quickly earned a reputation for quality and affordable home and commercial carpet cleaning in East Tennessee. During its 37-year history, Superior Carpet & Rug Cleaning owner, Kerry McDuffie, also earned a reputation as an innovative entrepreneur who routinely invested in new, state-of-the-art technology. These technological advances not only helped successfully differentiate Superior from its competition, but it also resulted in far superior cleaning results for its customers.
Today, as ever growing numbers of homeowners and businesses are choosing hand-crafted Oriental rugs to replace wall-to-wall carpeting, Superior Carpet & Rug Cleaning has once again demonstrated its talent for innovation. Superior has built a state-of-the-art Oriental rug washing boutique that safely and affordably cleans and revitalizes your family’s Oriental rugs.
We hope you will find our recent interview with Kerry both informative and instructional.
MV: There’s no question that Oriental rugs are replacing wall-to-wall carpeting in many American homes and businesses. Aside from their obvious visual differences, how do Oriental rugs and carpets differ?
Kerry: Conventional carpeting is machine made and tufted with synthetic material, although cotton and wool are sometimes used in higher end wall-to-wall carpeting. Genuine Oriental rugs, on the other hand, are created using natural fibers such as cotton, wool and silk. These handcrafted rugs are woven one at a time, with artisans paying individual attention to detail, color, pattern, and the motif of each piece of art they are creating. Each rug tells a story based on its origin and time in history in which it was created. These rugs are truly art for your floor.
MV: Does the use of all-natural fibers and organic dyes in the hand-crafting of Oriental rugs require a different cleaning process than that traditionally used on conventional carpeting?
Kerry: Absolutely. Because of the use of natural fibers, vegetable and plant dyes, meticulous care must be taken in order to ensure that dyes remain stable during the entire cleaning process. While wall-to-wall carpeting can be cleaned with high heat and strong cleaning agents, Oriental rugs must be washed using pure deionized cold water and natural fiber safe washing agents, then thoroughly rinsed, and hung to dry in a temperature-controlled drying room.
MV: Alex Zahir, owner of AZ International, LLC Rug Gallery, whose family has hand-crafted fine Oriental rugs in his native Afghanistan for three generations, expressed his surprise at your extraordinary level of knowledge related to the Oriental rug industry. How did you gain that knowledge?
Kerry: Our company is certified by a national certification board called the IICRC. We attend classes and seminars regularly to learn and keep up with the latest in rug washing knowledge and advancements in technology. I also frequently collaborate with Oriental rug specialists like Alex.
MV: Why is knowledge of the rug industry important in washing these Oriental rugs?
Kerry: You must know and understand the construction, fiber, and dye content to correctly and safely wash each rug. Many heirloom quality rugs are passed down from generation to generation. Oriental rug buyers often invest a great deal of time and money in selecting just the right designs, colors, sizes, and natural materials they want in their rugs. You and your rugs deserve the decades of experience that we can offer to ensure that your rugs are thoroughly and safely cleaned. Oriental rug washing, like rug weaving, is an art form in itself.
MV: How did your knowledge and experience in Oriental rug washing help you in the design and creation of your Farragut based rug washing boutique?
Kerry: After visiting numerous other rug washing facilities nationally and attending a variety of schools and seminars, I decided to create a state of the art rug washing boutique featuring our proprietary 11 step washing process designed to provide a rug washing experience unavailable anywhere else. In fact, as advancements are made in our industry, we continue to invest in this new technology to deliver even better results. Recently we purchased a Marinator Decon System which cleans your rugs from the inside out by moving up to 80 gallons of deionized washing solution per minute through rugs to safely clean those difficult inner and back sides of your rugs.
We also recently purchased and installed a Centrum Force Rug Wash Floor that replaces the wash pits used by the competition. The Centrum only uses clean deionized water to wash your rugs. The best way to differentiate the two systems is to compare them to your choice of a morning shower or a bath. With a shower you always bathe in clean water.
MV: You have also earned a reputation for safely removing pet stains and odors. Explain.
Kerry: Most rugs can be safely and successfully cleaned in our state-of-the-art rug washing boutique. However, the presence of pet urine or other animal accidents can compromise the dyes and degrade the natural fiber makeup of your rugs. Based on the construction of the rug, 100% removal of urine cannot always be guaranteed, although using our proprietary washing process, we have had good results. So the presence of pet urine does not necessarily mean that your rug is ruined. Time is of the essence, so act quickly when an unexpected accident occurs.
MV: Lest we forget, Superior Carpet & Rug Cleaning also cleans home and commercial carpeting and upholstery.
Kerry: We not only wash rugs, but we have mobile state-of-the-art equipment to clean your wall-to-wall carpet as well as upholstery and tile in your home or business. Like our rug washing boutique, our mobile washing systems use water treated by Kinetico. Clean carpets and rugs start with pure water.
MV: Kerry, how can people learn more about Superior Carpet & Rug Cleaning?
Kerry: You can find out about us by visiting our website, www.superiorofknoxville.com, email us at info@superiorofknoxville.com, call or text us at 865-680-1450, or look us up on Facebook.
MV: Anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
Kerry: All throughout our 37 years in business, our company has remained committed to delivering the highest level of quality and customer satisfaction in the industry. Hundreds of satisfied customers give testimony to that fact. “Quality plus service equals superior value… guaranteed!”
For a truly Superior level of clean call:
Superior Carpet & Rug Cleaning
865.691.5686
www.superiorofknoxville.com
