What water does to a rug, and how fast
Within hours, a wet wool rug's dyes start to move, especially reds and navies on ivory. Within two or three days in a Long Island basement in summer, mildew starts on the back and the rug begins to smell. Within a week, the cotton foundation, kept wet, starts to lose its strength; that is dry rot, and it is permanent. A rug that has been flooded and then dried slowly in place is often stiff, smelly, bled and cracking by the time someone thinks to call.
The good news is that most of it is preventable and much of it is reversible if the rug gets to the plant quickly. We see this after every major rain on the South Shore and in the beach communities, and after every winter pipe burst in the North Shore houses, and the outcome depends almost entirely on how many days pass before the wash.
