How to Care for a Hand-Knotted Wool Rug

A hand-knotted wool rug needs very little: vacuum it with suction only, never a beater bar; turn it once or twice a year so light and footfall land evenly; blot a spill at once rather than rubbing it; and send it to a specialist for a proper wash every few years. Done that way, a rug that was made to last for generations does.

Wool forgives almost everything except neglect and good intentions.

Most damage to a good rug is done by care rather than by use. A rotating brush, a strong detergent, the full glare of an afternoon sun, a well-meant scrub at a stain — each one does more harm in a minute than a year of feet. What follows is short, because the right way to look after a hand-knotted rug is mostly a list of things not to do to it.

Vacuuming

Use suction only. The rotating brush on an ordinary vacuum cleaner is built for machine-made carpet with a glued backing; on a hand-knotted rug it pulls at the knots and chews the fringe. Most machines let you switch the brush off or change the head. If yours does not, use the upholstery tool.

Go with the pile, not against it. Run your hand along the rug: one direction feels smooth, the other rough. Vacuum in the smooth direction. Once a month, turn the rug over and vacuum the back as well, which loosens grit that has worked down into the foundation and that, left there, wears the knots from beneath.

Leave the fringe alone. It is the ends of the warp, the threads the whole rug is built on, and a vacuum will wind it in and break it. A soft brush or a hand is enough.

Shedding is normal, and it stops

A new wool rug sheds. The loose fibres are the short ends left from shearing the pile level at the end of the weaving, not the rug coming apart, and they come away over the first few months of use and vacuuming. The amount falls steadily and then stops. It is a sign of a wool pile, not a fault in one.

A tuft that stands proud of the surface is a different thing: the end of a knot working up. Trim it level with scissors. Never pull it, because it is attached to the knot beneath.

Spills

Act at once, and blot rather than rub. Press a clean white cloth into the spill, lift it, move to a clean part of the cloth, and press again, working from the outside of the mark inward so it does not spread. Rubbing drives liquid into the foundation and roughens the pile.

For most spills, cool clean water blotted through the same way is all that is needed. Avoid household carpet cleaners and anything with bleach or strong detergent; they are made for synthetic fibre and can dry out wool or move the dye. For anything that sets — wine, ink, oil — or anything you are unsure of, call a specialist before you try harder. A stain that has been left alone is easier to remove than one that has been attacked.

Light, and turning the rug

Dyes soften in strong sunlight over the years, and that slow fading is part of why an old rug looks the way it does. What you want to avoid is fading on one half only. Turn the rug end for end once or twice a year so the sun, and the path people walk, fall evenly across it. In a room with hard afternoon light, a blind drawn during the brightest hours does more for a rug than any product.

Underneath it

A good rug pad stops a rug sliding on a hard floor, takes some of the wear from the knots, and lets air move beneath the foundation. It should be a little smaller than the rug, so its edge never shows.

Furniture legs leave dents in any pile. Move heavy pieces a few centimetres now and then, and a dent that has formed will usually lift with a little time and a gentle brush.

Moths

Moths go for wool that is dark, still and undisturbed — the stretch under a sofa, the corner beneath a bed, a rug rolled and forgotten in a cupboard. Rugs in daily use rarely have the problem, because traffic and light disturb them. Vacuum under the furniture as often as you vacuum the open floor, and if a rug goes into storage, have it cleaned first, wrap it in cotton or breathable paper rather than plastic, and look at it every few months.

A proper wash

Every few years, and more often under heavy traffic, a hand-knotted rug should be washed by someone who washes rugs, not carpets: by hand, with the right cleaner for wool, and dried flat and slowly. It lifts the dirt that no vacuum reaches and brings the colour back up. Steam cleaning and machine methods designed for fitted carpet are not the same thing and are best avoided.

Why it is worth the trouble

A hand-knotted rug has no glue and no backing to fail. Its structure is wool and knots, and both age well if they are left to. Looked after this simply, a rug does not wear out so much as settle — the colour mellows, the pile takes on the shape of the room, and it becomes the thing in the house that looks as if it was always there.

If a piece from Loomish ever needs more than this, write to the house. We would rather answer a question about a stain than see a good rug scrubbed.