Renaissance Rug Cleaning Inc.
(503) 963-8565
Open 9:30-5:30 M-F
Closed weekends
no appointment is needed
for drop-off & Pick-up,
Renaissance Your Rug!
Antique Rug Cleaning
We've earned the trust of Portland's top rug dealers,with our experience in new rugs, Persian rugs, vintage rugs and antique carpets cleaning and repair.
Antique, And Vintage Carpets
Many antique and vintage rugs we clean have history in a family half a century as a dining room rug. Rugs often transcend time, generations, and simple decorative elements in a home. They are a link to our past. With fond childhood memories, family get-togethers, and loved ones now gone,
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At times, rugs don't simply "tie a room together". They bear witness to family generations and the passage of time.
At the same time, old wool rugs are functional elements in our homes, walked on, sat on, used, and abused.
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Many antique rugs are one of a kind with unique patterns with natural fibers with wear and frayed edges they need specialized care.
Challenges Cleaning Antique & Vintage Rugs
Cleaning antique rugs comes with its own set of challenges: Natural materials such as fibers are weakened by use and time, unstable dyes often result from neglect or well-intended carpet steam cleaning, or poorly done cleaning with harsh cleaning chemicals. While hand knotted rugs are renowned for their durability time and use can weaken vintage Morrocan rugs.
Many Vintage rugs are artificially aged to change or lighten colors reducing fiber durability and such rugs need extra care during cleaning. Smoe vintage rugs are overdyed with unstable dyes that need special consideration.
Well-intended but poorly executed or haphazard repairs done by untrained experts; use of adhesive machines to bind antique and vintage rugs puts unnatural stresses on weave structures, driving further damage and much faster deterioration of antique rugs. Often it is a combination of all these and the ravages of time than make antique rug cleaning challenging.
Rug Hand Washing
For example, a circa1870s Shravan Marsali prayer rug.
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This rug was hot water extracted, and surface carpet shampooed repeatedly. Quick low labor cleaning made the rug look good initially, over time, the incomplete cleaning left behind soil and cleaning residue that attracted soil faster and over time made these soils harder to remove.
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It took Us hours of soaking and gentle hand washing with soft bristle brushes to peel off the layers built up cleaning products and soils.
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Cleaning is a balance, If improper, haphazard, or inexperienced cleaning is attempted damage and accelerated deterioration can occur. Often low, moisture cleaning like shampoo and hot water extraction seem safe but leave residues and fail to get rugs clean. Both antique and vintage rugs are compromised antique rugs by time and use, and vintage rugs from artificial treatments to age vintage rugs sofen colors and artifically age.
Yet, soils amplify the damage from food traffic and soils, such as cooking oils, proteins, and starches, amplify the detrimental effects of moisture and sunlight, and drive accelerated textile deterioration. These soils also make oriental rugs more hospitable to destructive pests like wool moths and carpet beetles.
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So cleaning is essential to the beauty and longevity of your rugs, but it's critical to use a cleaning method that effectively removes deeply embedded soils and odors; carpet shampoo and hot water extraction fail.In the case of the rug pic above, the hot water extraction and carpet shampoo made the rug look better but didn't remove much of the soil, which causes wear and deterioration in a rug.
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Spots happen, but spotting rugs should not be taken lightly. Improper spotting of a vintage rug can cause permanent damage to your rug, and the stains will be difficult, even impossible, to remove this is true with all oriental rug even new ones.
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Spot cleaning old rugs is similar to new rugs. The first step in preventing spots is by vacuuming them thoroughly on a weekly basis or more frequently with rugs and carpets in a high-traffic setting, such as an entryway, to remove light soiling so it doesn't build up in the carpet foundation.
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Seek out professional rug cleaning advice on spotting like here, and stay away from mystery concoctions found on the web or store-purchased cleaners made for wall-to-wall carpets that are often too aggressive to spot clean wool and other natural fibers. Hand dish detergent one drop to a cup of water is a good all-around rug spotter.
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Is Cleaning Bad For Antique and Vintage rugs ?
How To Care for old Rugs Between Cleaning
Our Service Area
Renaissance provides cleaning & repair services to the Portland metro area and beyond