Our Cleaning Process

This is where we examine and measure the rug with the customer and let them know all the information needed like how long it will take, what it will cost, and the predicted outcome of the cleaning. We take this time to answer any questions or address any concerns the customer may have.

For thousands of years people have known that removing dry soil from a rug prior to using any water is the best method. People would hang their rugs and beat them with poles to remove the dust and sand. This practice is still used around the world. At Holland Rugs, we now use a high tech belt feed dusting machine to gently but effectively remove dry soil and sand from a rug. It’s amazing to see just how much dry soil is not removable with a vacuum cleaner and comes pouring out when dusted with our machine. It’s that dry soil that is responsible for wearing down a rug when it’s walked over and ground in with footsteps. Removing dry soil greatly extends the life of any rug.

We test the dyes of every color of every rug before we wash it to make 100% sure that they are stable.

We select an appropriate and safe detergent based on the materials we are cleaning and work it into the rug top and bottom.

Every rug is agitated to break the dirt’s hold on the fibers. Some rugs are old and delicate and get agitated gently by hand brushes. Others can handle our power scrubbing tools with special safe on wool brushes. The rug is then left to dwell for 10-15 minutes before rinsing.

Each rug has the dirt and detergent flushed off it by our flowing river rinse platform that uses downhill flowing rinse water so the rug is not sitting in a pit of its own filth like our competitors plants have. The use of special weighted rollers work with the rinse platform to get all detergent and soil out and away from the rug.

We make sure that all rugs leave our shop set at the correct pH level. A rug with a high pH can lose its soft feel and can become brittle.

After cleaning, the wet rug is placed in a centrifuge where it will spin to 95% dry in just 3 minutes. Taking a rug out of the wet ”danger zone” so fast makes our plant the safest way to get your rug clean. Other drying methods leave the rug wet for so long that issues arise like bleeding, odor, mold, etc.

Using soft brushes, we brush the rug so all the fibers go together in the same direction giving the rug a beautiful uniform look before the drying process. For silk rugs we use special brushes and we groom them by hand to achieve a stunning look.

This is where we use delicate hand tools and cotton products to get the fringe gleaming white and clean again without using any bleach products.

Damp rugs are hoisted onto our drying rack where large fans blow air across the rugs until they are bone dry.

Upon passing inspection all rugs are wrapped in a durable paper and sent out for delivery.