Silk oriental carpet cleaning should be taken with that same amount of care as washing a delicate silk blouse.
What is most important with silk rug cleaning is after washing it the material becomes very stiff. The pile sticks out like a needle and the design could appear to be ruined. You have to treat the silk properly to regain the suppleness of the initial feel and look of when you first acquired it.
With silk carpets, you have to be a lot more careful. Silk carpets are usually more finely woven and can collect more dirt and hold dirt at the foundations.
It is often more difficult to get the dust out, especially if it is not regularly cleaned.
If they loose shape it is a more delicate operation to restore the right balance.
Getting a colour run out is more difficult with silk rugs as well. Sometimes it may mean removing knots and replacing them.
Dry cleaning a silk rug can be a costly mistake as well. For example, if the pile of a silk rug lies in a different way it can look as if there are stains on it or the design can be fuzzy or even unrecognisable.
If an oriental carpet cleaner lets the silk dry in all different directions, then the whole look of the carpet changes and you will have to re-wash and realign which will then make the job even more difficult then if it was done right the first time.
The type of cleaning it would require also depends entirely on the dyes that have been used. Also though it may be a silk warp the weft may be cotton, meaning a slightly adjusted method of cleaning. Silk is actually a much stronger a fibre than cotton.
More care should be taken with silk carpets because it is more difficult to restore and repair silk carpets. This is because of their very fine weave.
Occasionally someone thinks they have a silk carpet it is not.
Some people have wool carpets and think it is silk because it has a shiny surface and a few un-scrupulous dealers took advantage of this. This happened a lot in 60s and 70s.
Not all silk carpets are silk, they are sometimes rayon or mercerized cotton, which react differently to washing so you have identify the materials first.
At Sharafi & Co, we highly respected in the industry and have experience with silk oriental carpet cleaning and any other type of wool rug cleaning.
