Save your wool rugs get your air ducts cleaned

Now you maybe wondering how getting your air/furnace ducts cleaned will save your wool rugs. It is simple MOTHS!

All spring and summer when you haven't been using the heat, organic dust, hair and allergens have been collecting in the ducts. When you turn on the heat in the fall all of that dust and allergens gets blown in to your rooms along with any moth eggs and larva that may be feeding on the dust.

Clothes Moth Larva eating a wool rug

Not only is breathing in all that dust not healthy, but the moths need to find a new source of food. It will be your wool area rugs. Moths like dark, undisturbed, dirty areas of rugs. When you have furniture on your rugs or have your rug near air/heat vents this makes for a great place for them to eat your rug without you knowing it until it is too late.

In Victoria the clothes moth runs rampant damaging wool area rugs all year round. In the month of July 2011 alone Luv-a-rug received over 20 rugs that had moth damage. That is too many rugs, in my opinion, to have been victims of the clothes moth.

It isn't because of poor cleaning habits by the owners, it is caused by the female moth being sneaky and laying her eggs on the back of the rugs, but mostly because the rugs were not cleaned before they were stored and improper storage.

When I talk about storing a rug I don't mean in a storage locker or garage. When I say storing a rug I mean not using a rug for weeks to years and just having it rolled up or folded and put out of the way. No matter what the reason for you not using your rug, puppy training, renos, moving, too big for your home, you need to get the rug cleaned and wrapped properly so that moths and other pests don't make your rug their home.

Summertime is the best time to get your air/furnace ducts cleaned because it isn't busy right now. Once the colder weather hits everyone will be getting their homes ready for winter. There is nothing wrong with getting things done early.

Luv-A-Rug recommends Sunny Carpet and Air Duct cleaning. In Victoria call 250-384-7951, in Nanaimo 250-755-1128, in Duncan 250-746-1888, in Parksville/Qualicum 250-954-3491.

Here's to clean, moth damage free rugs, RugloverMary,

Customer Service is about Service- A Shag Rug Story

At about 2:20pm, June 2nd 2011, a lady came into Luv-A-Rug carrying her rolled up shag rug. I greeted her and told her that she had a great coloured shag. It was a charcoal grey and cream polypropylene shag rug that she bought from Scan Design in Millstream Village.

She said that her rug was new and it had a small yellow spot from where her friend had dropped a hotdog with ketchup and mustard on it. She wanted to know if we could just spot clean the area.

With it being a quiet day I said that I would try just using our own spotter and see what would come off if she had the time. She said yes she did, so I sat down and started spot cleaning the area.

As I was doing it I explained to her that whenever she had to clean up a spot on her shag to always wipe from the bottom of the fibers to the top as to now cause the pile to distort.

We sat there on her shag and had a good discussion about her shag, Scan Design and coffee tables, as she had ordered one from Scan design to go with her rug. I had also found 30 cents and 3 bobby pins in her shag and I explained the best way to care for her shag.

I said that Shags needed to be vacuumed and cleaned more often that regular pile rugs and once a month she should turn her rug upside and vacuum the back. Here is a video I did showing the best way to vacuum a shag rug.



I spent about 10-15 minutes sitting there chatting and cleaning the mustard off each individual fiber. With a shag that is how you remove spots and spills is to WIPE EACH FIBER FROM BOTTOM TO TOP. When you wipe against the fibers you are spreading the spill further and it makes the fibers fray open and not lay right.

I succeeded in removing at least 90% of all the yellow mustard from her rug and made it almost invisible when you looked at the rug. I had good success because the rug was a synthetic fiber, she did not try to remove the spot herself and she got the rug to us the next day after it happened.

The client was thrilled that I could get the spot out and explained how to take care of her shag. She was also happy that I wouldn't charge her for me doing it. It was such a little thing to do and took no time to do it that I didn't feel right asking her to pay. She also said that when she did need her rug cleaned that she would be bringing back to Luv-A-Rug. That is the best compliment ever!

She asked the best spot cleaner to use and my answer was water and a white cotton towel. Vinegar is good for urine, salt is good for red wine same with dry oats for wet spills, baking soda is BAD! as a spot cleaner for rugs. Adding anything else just makes a layered sandwich and can make a spot into a permanent stain.

Next time you get a food spill on your rug don't rub deeper into the rug. Wipe in the direction of the fibers in straight lines, blot, and if possible keep the area damp until you can get the rug in for cleaning.

Here's to spot free area rugs, RugloverMary 

Have you taken your rug for a test sniff?

Here is a comment I got on one of my previous about rugs with odours. I went to comment back and then realized that I had written a lot and decided to make a post of it instead. Here is the comment from Captain Rug Wash located in Plymouth, Devon, UK

"Great post Mary, I have many customers coming to me with smelly rugs. And I always have to tell them about the way they make the rugs and the latex used. I love the map you have as the background of your Blog. Keep up the good work Mary, I'm looking forward to the next installment.

With warm regards Captain Rug Wash"
Here is my response:

Thanks for reading my blog, I just popped over and viewed yours Andi. I hope that your Rugcare.TV is going well.

I have had a few tufted rugs come in last week that I could smell right away and when I mentioned it to the client they said that they couldn't smell it. Which to me seemed hard to believe since I was a few feet away and could smell the latex glue off gassing. In defense of the clients I have to say that when you get used to a smell in your home it is hard to notice it.

When one lady came in to pick up her clean tufted rug and she said that she did notice there wasn't a funny smell any more when she sat in her favorite chair. It was because the rug was not there. She asked about what kind of rugs she should buy and I showed her that any rug where you can see the pattern on the back is best and where in Victoria BC she can go to find good rugs to buy.

It would be nice if there were regulations enforced about the quality of materials companies used to make hand tufted rugs, but there is not...yet. If we as consumers would let rug galleries and manufactures know that we want quality area rugs then hopefully they would stop selling and making poor quality rugs.

Now not all hand tufted rugs have a bad smell and shed, but there are too many out there that the good ones get missed. I have written many blog post about hand tufted rugs and how to check to see if the one you want to buy is good. here is my checklist when buy rugs:

• First make a claw with your fingers and scratch the rug in a circle and tug on the fibers, this will give you an indication if the rug will shed a little or a lot. All wool rugs will shed a bit, but if you can make a small fur ball of fibers you may want to keep looking. 
• Second bend the front of the rug back so you can see the bottom of the fibers and smell, yes smell, the rug. This will let you know if the rug has an odour from the latex glue. Also smell the back of the rug too to get a full sense of any pre-existing smells.
• The last thing to check for is if the rug is crunchy sounding. To check this bend the corners up and down to listen for a cracking sound from the latex glue. Some glues dry out quickly and make the rug crunchy sounding. This may cause the rug to leave fine white dust on your floor. This dust is the glue breaking down and it never stops.

Clean of a tufted rug with any of these problems, shedding, smell or white dust, does not fix or stop them from happening again. When your tufted rug has any issues, it will always have these issues. That is why it is so important to really look, smell and touch the rug you want to buy. This goes for new rugs and second hand rugs.

You wouldn't buy a car without test driving it, or try on a new pair of shoes first so why buy an area rug without testing it too?

Here's to fresh smelling rugs, RugloverMary

Luv-A-Rug gets Rid of many different Odours from Area Rugs

Today we have the theme day of smells and they are not pet urine smells. On this sunny day of May, Luv-a-Rug has received a Turkish rug that is a week old and got wet from an salt water aquarium.

The rug resides in a law firm here in Victoria and yesterday it was discovered that the fish tank had a leak and the rug was soaking up the water. There is no colour bleed. The lawyer who owns the rug rolled it up and called us immediately to pick it up, which we did first thing this morning.

Other than the rug smelling strongly of salt and algae there is no other water damage. Once we do a thorough rinse of the rug and dry it completely the rug will be nice and fresh to enjoy again.

The next smell we had was a carpet from a trunk of a car where gas additive leaked. The owner of the car tried to wash out the spill, but it wasn't budging. The smell got to be to the point where she couldn't have the carpet in her car at all.

She brought it to Luv-A-Rug for a deep cleaning. We can do a thorough wet wash on the trunk carpet because it is synthetic nylon. The only cleaning concern is there are three pieces of stiff under pad glued to the under side of the carpet. These may or may not remain glued on. This was explained to the client and if they do come off we can easy re glue them, or if they fall apart the client knows she can replace them.

Luv-A-Rug cleans car mats as well, if they are removable from your vehicle.

The third smell to come into Luv-A-Rug was a hand tufted rug with a strong latex glue smell. When they make hand tufted rugs they glue the fiber loops and the cotton backing on and this glue can give off a smell from moderate to very strong. 

If your hand tufted rug has a latex smell it cannot be removed since it is part of the rugs construction. The best thing to do is when you are purchasing a rug with a cotton backing is to fold back the fibers and smell the rug. That way you will know before if the rug has an odour already.

No matter what odour your rug may have due to spills, pet accidents, or flooding chances are Luv-A-Rug has cleaned them all.

Here's to your rug not having an odours and being clean and healthy, RugloverMary

Area Rug Cleaning Gone for the Weekend

So , it is Friday May 20th and the long weekend has started here for a lot of people in Victoria, BC. The community plaza where our office is has been pretty dead today, so how does one pass the time and be productive when all I really want is to be out enjoying the day?

Well first I vacuum and clean and organize everything I can, second I browse rug blogs and leave comments on ones that appeal to me and third I read one of the most definitive area rug books by Ellen Amirkhan and Aaron Groseclose, A Comprehensive Guide to Oriental & Specialty Rug Cleaning. I am trying to learn how to identify all the different types of Persian rugs.

I am having a hard time retaining all the different characteristics of Heriz, Shiraz, Tabriz, Bijar and many more Persian and Tribal rugs. To learn more about these Persian rugs the best website is by Barry O'Connell and that is where the above link will take you to.

I may never be able to remember how to tell the different Persian rugs apart, but just the fact that I know to identify between Persian, Turkish, Chinese, British Indian, Belgium is more than most people can do. I do know what a Hamadan Persian rug is and sometime I see a Nain Persian come in for cleaning, but because I don't see every type of Persian every day I tend to lose the identifying factors after I read them.

I, however, do not have a favorite type of Persian rug. I am embarrassed to admit this, but I like a Persian rug based mostly on the colours and design. Being in the rug cleaning business I feel like I should love all Persians because of the history and workmanship and I do appreciate that about Persian rugs. What I don't like is the almost over use of the colours of red and navy. After you see a hundred or so of red and navy Persians in a few months you grow bored of that combination no matter quality and history.

Now for those of you who own a Persian rug with the red and navy colour palette don't think that I hate your rug it is just not my choice of rug to personally own. We all have reasons for liking the area rugs we do and that is one of mine.

Here is to a nice and safe long weekend for those who get one, RugloverMary- picky Persian lover

Great Customer Care from Dyson

It is good to know that there are still big companies that stand behind their products. Luv-A-Rug has recently found that out with Dyson Vacuum cleaners.

Just under three years ago, when we had to move locations, we bought a Dyson Vacuum cleaner from Mr Sweeper Vacuums. We loved our Dyson right away. It worked great at getting All the small fine dirt off our carpet in the office.

Now to be fair we do use our vacuum more than the average home owner, so after three years the bristles on the brush wore down. On Tues. May 3rd I called the Canadian Customer Service of Dyson and explained that we needed a new brush. The guy I spoke to said that they required us to send in our Dyson to get it replaced. I replied that it was just the brush that needed to be replaced and we had no problems with doing that ourselves.

He said that a new brush would be sent out and we should receive it in 7-10 business days. It arrived on May 10th, which is only 5 business days, a nice bonus.

Now changing the brush on our Dyson required two people, a screw driver, a few swear words, a few pinched fingers and five minutes. The reason it takes two people some effort to change the brush is you have to make sure the drive belt that rotates the brush doesn't snap back into the vacuum.

All went well and we have our Dyson vacuum working like new again.  It is nice to know that when you buy a product and register it for the warranty that the company stands behind their warranty.

Here's to happy and clean carpets, RugloverMary.

Clean Rugs Equals Very Happy Clients

It is so nice to see the sun on a more regular basis these days. My dogs have enjoyed going to the park to play instead of just the usual walk around the block. Hopefully you have been able to soak up some much needed rays as well.

Yesterday we made a couple of ladies very happy when they saw how beautiful their rugs looked after cleaning.

The first lady had a small beige 4x5 synthetic rug that came more grey than beige. When I rolled out the rug for her to see it after cleaning she looked at the rug longer than expected.
I asked her if there was something wrong with her rug.

She answered, "No. I just didn't know what the pattern colours were since it was so dirty." She had forgotten how pretty the deep red and sage green floral pattern was.

The second lady had a 9x12 wool Chinese hook rug. We have cleaned it for her in the past. Her dog had vomited very bright yellow on the rug and it was going to be a few days before she could get it to us. She lives up island, so she blotted up what she could using a small amount of a gentle laundry soap and a damp towel.. When I unrolled her rug there was no evidence of any yellow spots on her rug. She was thrilled.

That is the best part of my job is seeing people fall back in love with their area rugs.

Owning an rug is an investment and getting it cleaned helps prolong the beauty and usage of it. Not all is lost when something gets spilled on, a pet accident, or your rug gets flooded. Luv-A-Rug has cleaned just about every kind of accident that can happen to your rug.

Here's to many, many more happy clean rugs, RugloverMary