Oriental Rug Color Migration Restoration
Today, we will look at a few images from a recent oriental rug color migration restoration service we provided. That’s a mouthful, I know. In layman’s terms, we can take color that has moved or bled onto a section it does not belong in, and make it vanish. If that sounds like magic to you, fantastic. Keep believing that and do not continue reading any further. If you have your doubts, keep reading.
Oriental Rug Color Migration Restoration – Water Damaged Rug
This rug had been involved in what is known as a ‘water loss’. This is a situation where water came somewhere it shouldn’t have and created property loss.
We were contacted to see if the clients rug was salvageable or should be declared a loss. This was somewhat of a minor case as the color seemed to mostly affect the fringe. Some fine tune areas had to be dealt with as well, but the client was primarily concerned with the rugs overall appearance. The fringe had been damaged on both ends on the same side that you can predominately see in the right image.
Oriental Rug Color Migration Restoration – How we fix it
Magic, if you recall in the top. If you don’t buy that, good for you. The first step is to wash the rug thoroughly. This helps stabilize the colors and sometimes can wash away excess color that has not fully bonded with the carpet. Unfortunately, in this case, the washing only removed dirt and soil.
The next step is where the real fun is. Hour after hour of a fine point paint brush and the proper chemical mix is applied only to the areas where the fugitive dye has affected. This mix is only good for short periods of time, must be applied hot, and is not the most pleasant to smell. This is why we only offer this service in our facility, away from your home. Once the product has been applied, a steamer is used to accelerate the reaction, causing the fugitive dyes to vanish. Once every fugitive color has been removed to satisfaction, the rug is lightly rinsed again. Once dried, it is ready for delivery.
Oriental Rug Color Migration Restoration – How it looks after
A quick side note, notice the stripes in the fringe, and how they disappear from the area where the dye was? We noticed this as well.
As a matter of fact, if you look really close at the before images, you will see that the same strange pattern was there before we cleaned the rug. Our best guess is that the rug was originally built this way, or someone had tried to ‘bleach’ the color out prior to our handling of the rug. We suspect the second. This is because ‘bleach’ can have a very damaging effect to cotton. If you look at the bottom portion, you will see how frayed the fringe looks.
A good fringe cleaner, such as we use, will brighten and clean without burning or damaging the cotton the fringe is comprised of.
