Oriental rugs are heavy fabric carpets that are made in a variety of attractive designs. The rugs are created in most, if not all, oriental countries for export and local usage. These rugs are made from many different textiles, mainly silk, cotton, and wool.
What makes them so great is the fact that they not only enhance the beauty of your floor but also elevate the look of the entire room. With rugs that cost this much, you’d hope that they’d be resistant to damage – no such luck unfortunately. Oriental rugs are prone to getting damaged very easily, as is the case with most rugs as they are constantly walked on, heavy couches leave irreparable marks on them, and of course, they are the victims of food spills, serving as a habitat for bugs.
It is very important to look after your rugs and invest in their repair and restoration if you want them to look brand new every time you see them. Regular cleaning of your rugs can do wonders for maintenance; but while you can clean and repair oriental rugs your own too, professional rug repair is highly recommended to ensure no damage is done while they are being cleaned. The basic objective of performing rug repair is to prevent them from getting damaged further and to preserve the splendor and worth of the rugs for a long time.
Repairing the sides of an Oriental rug
To repair the sides of oriental rugs, cleaning and repair professionals carefully bind the unraveled sides with the help of wool. Stitching up the seams on the torn out sides prevents the rug from opening and make it look new and clean again, whereas the color and form of the wool used for rug repair depends on the color of the rug itself.
Repairing the ends of an Oriental rug
Just as with the sides, the ends of an oriental rug too need to be attended as soon as possible. The ends of a rug are the two sides that contain fringe on it and run sideways along the rug’s width. Mostly people consider fringes of oriental rugs as an extra embellishment which don’t exactly factor into the maintenance of the rug. But that’s not the case! Fringes are actually the base of the rug and as they are completely exposed, thus more likely to get damaged while saving the inner rug.
Unraveling of the rug
Damaged fringes will lead to the rug unraveling, which would ultimately necessitate extensive rug repair followed by permanent damage to the surrounding fabric. If the damaged pile is not repaired on time, the rug will start untying and then there’s only one way to restore the rug in its original form. Rug repair weavers will create more foundation and re-bind the damaged areas of the rug before mending the fringes.
The whole process of knitting the rug again can be quite costly; therefore, rug repair professionals repair just the fringes if you don’t want the repair costs to get out of hand. Experts firstly repair the fringes and then trim them evenly.
Consider the following while going for oriental rug repair:
- If you have a thicker rug, then just bind new fringes on the rug instead of repairing the damaged fringes.
- If you have a thinner rug then a special method called “Zangera” is more apt for the rug repair. This technique embeds the fringes and tightens them with the ‘Zangera’ stich, preventing the rug from unraveling.
Repairing a hole in the rug
Re-knitting a hole in the rug is the most difficult aspect of the entire rug repair and restoration.
- The first step is to build the foundation of the rug all over again. The torn out piece of the rug is repaired with the broken foundation material, extending it to a point where the weaver can re-bind it. The success of rug repair depends on the strong binding of the original foundation. If it is not woven properly the rug restoration process will not be fruitful.
- The second step involves the weaving of the hole through wool threads with the same thickness and design as the original foundation. Repairing rug holes need precision because it is important to closely match the warps, knots and wefts with the foundation. Once the hole is woven again, the repaired area is cropped out to match it with the height of the pile.
A rug hole can only be repaired if the surrounding area is in good condition because a thinner pile will make it difficult to hide the knitting.
Need help from a pro?
To maintain your precious rug and preserve its quality well, both repairs and professional cleaning is critical. And no one does it better than us at NYC Steam Cleaning. Our team of skilled experts is known for their outstanding rug repair and restoration services for all kinds of rugs, including Oriental rugs. We use the best rug cleaning techniques, refined to perfection, to make your rug look brand new again. Dial 1-888-245-1199 now and book NYC Steam Cleaning if you want your expensive Oriental rugs to be repaired by experienced hands!
