Vacuum cleaners are like gym memberships. They don’t get used as much as you would like and not nearly enough as they should. But you wouldn’t dare give it up because one of these days you will get around to using it. Can you tell I’m feeling guilty about not going to the gym?
Equally, many of us feel guilty about not cleaning as much or as often as we should. Vacuuming is one of those chores that can easily get overlooked. Often times when we do vacuum, we are on a mission to get the big stuff that we can easily see.
But take a look at that dusty shelf. I’m sure there is an untouched shelf of dust somewhere. The same dust that settles on the furniture of you home, also settles on the rug. In addition, soil is tracked on to your rug with foot traffic.
If this dust and soil is not removed with frequent vacuuming, it makes its way deeper and deeper into your rug. Carpet fibers are usually space enough that the vacuum brush bar can separate the pile to remove deeper soil. However, oriental rugs are woven so tightly, that vacuuming can only sufficiently remove soil close to the surface. Soil can easily penetrate to a depth that it can not be reached by normal vacuuming.
All rugs that come through our shop need some form of dusting. On thick sturdy rugs, we use a harmonic dusting machine that knocks out this deeply embedded soil. This soil cuts the rug fibers like a knife and if not removed, the rug fibers will literally wear away.
Recently, I spent 4 hours dusting a rug. Yes, I spent half a day simply dusting a rug and it is not uncommon to spend significant time on this one step.
Some cleaners do a once over dusting job and call it good enough and other skip this step all-together. I’ve been in cleaning shops where they didn’t even vacuum the rug before wetting it down with their cleaning solution. Not only does this neglect leave damaging abrasive soil deep in your rug, it can also create a new problem. The moisture from cleaning and the soil deep in the rug can literally create mud that can penetrate into the foundation of the rug and eventually cause the cotton foundation to dry rot.