Cost
We get asked this every day at the plant, and the honest answer is sometimes no. Here is how we decide, so you can decide before you call.
Turn the rug over. If the design shows through with small irregularities, it is hand‑knotted, and the answer is almost always yes: hand‑knotted rugs are made to be washed for a century and repaired along the way. Our guide to reading the back of a rug walks through it.
If the back is a glued‑on fabric, the rug is tufted, and the question is the backing. Lift a corner and flex it. Supple backing, no white powder on the floor underneath: worth cleaning, and it will come back clean for years. Cracking, crumbling, powder, or a brown stain wicking up through the pile: the latex has failed, and washing will make the rug clean but not make it sound. For a rug that cost $400 we usually say clean it and enjoy the rest of its life; for one with a failed backing we say so before you spend anything.
Polypropylene and nylon rugs clean very well and cost the least to clean. The only reason not to is if the rug is worn through, delaminating, or cheaper to replace than to clean, which for a 5×8 is often close. If you like it and it is a size you cannot easily find again, clean it.
Not just money. An inherited Sarouk that would fetch $600 at auction may be worth $2,000 of cleaning and repair to the family that has walked on it for seventy years. We price the work; you decide the value. What we will not do is take your money to wash a rug that cannot be saved.
When in doubt, book a pickup: inspection is free, the price is firm before work, and "no" is an answer we give.
Drop‑offs welcome any day; call ahead and you can watch the dye test.
Yes, at inspection, before you approve anything. It happens every week.
Usually. Worn pile on a hand‑knotted rug is character; soil in the foundation is damage. Washing removes the damage and keeps the character.
The rug can be washed cool and dried face‑up and will look and smell better, but the backing keeps aging. We tell you what to expect.