Oriental Rug Cleaning in Upper West Side, NYC

Hand-knotted rugs fit naturally in Upper West Side homes, on herringbone floors in prewar co-ops and in brownstone parlors with tall windows. Many have been in the family for a long time, and some arrived with grandparents who lived in the neighborhood before.

Pieces of this kind are never put through a machine. We collect it, look at how it was made, identify the fiber, test each dye, and then wash it gently at our facility.

West End Avenue and Riverside Drive apartments tend to have long rooms and long halls, and the rugs that fit them are often long too: gallery runners and room-size Persian carpets that have to be folded carefully to get through a doorway. We roll them with the pile facing in and pad the folds so nothing creases.

A rug near a radiator or under a steam pipe can dry out and turn brittle along one edge. We note any stiff or cracking areas before the wash and handle them gently.

Knowing the fiber comes first. Most Persian and Caucasian rugs are wool, which handles water well. Silk is weaker when wet, and viscose, often sold as art silk, is even more delicate. Each fiber gets its own method.

Dyes are tested shade by shade. If a color might run, we change the wash to protect it, and we explain what we found.

Rugs that have been on the same floor for many years can hide moth damage under furniture and along the edges. We check for it and tell you before cleaning.

Rinsing goes on until no more soil runs out. Drying is slow and even, because quick heat can shrink wool and push dye into the wrong places. The fringe gets its own wash and a careful comb.

Collection and return are free, and the rug is usually home within about a week.

Have a machine-made or flatweave rug too? Send it along with our West Side area rug service. The full Upper West Side list has sofa, carpet and mattress care, and friends on the East Side can use our Upper East Side oriental rug cleaning. Describe your rug to us at 1-800-589-4364.