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Flooded Rug Dilemma
Little-Persia Offline
#1 Posted : Friday, January 21, 2011 6:32:58 AM(UTC)
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A customer has brought us a beautiful Tabriz rug which was in his house and had the roof collapse on it due to flooding. It was still soaking wet when it arrived and smelly, the water obviously not being particularly clean, it was quiet a large flood by the sounds of it.

The rug was bought 14 years ago in Hong Kong. It's 60 Raj (22 horizontal knots in one inch = 60 knots in 7cm, by around 20 vertical knots = 440 KPSI) and I think it has silk highlights and background to the central medallion and a few of its white panels, it could be cotton as is quite common but it's hard to tell because the material has now been left wet and has dried and it is now quite clumpy and stiff (which maybe suggests it is silk?).

The guy really likes the rug, you can tell he's in love with it and it holds a real sentimental value. Our dilemma is this:

He bought the rug back then for just under 3000, to replace it today would be a lot more (opinions on replacement value?) and I'm not sure how the insurance company will react. He also sounds as if he'd prefer if it was restored rather than replaced. I'm confident we can clean it up to look good again but I'm worried about the value of the rug being reduced, it's not going to be perfect and there does appear to be a slight 'wave' now that it's drying/dried out. My other major concern is we could get the rug looking good again but as it's been lying wet for over a month what if it's damaged long term structurally?

On the one hand the guy would love to get his pride and joy back, on the other it's a worry that the rug could be damaged physically and in value by what's happened.

It's a kind of grey area and the insurance company are probably going to want a black and white answer "can it be fixed or not" whereas the answer is probably going to be "yes, but it won't be the same rug as it was pre-flood".

Would appreciate you guys thoughts?












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KAD Offline
#2 Posted : Saturday, January 22, 2011 5:50:50 AM(UTC)
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From what I see you should not worry. The rug is not a Tabriz (which is good because Tabriz colors are often not very stable and would have run). It is a fine Kashmir rug (which is good in this case because these have very stable colors) with (art?) silk highlights.

How do you wash the rugs? Do you clean them with a spray extractor and vacuum them afterwards or do you wash and shampoo really wet and dry in a centrifuge and drying room?

First way will not help, but second should get the rug back to as new condition. The wave should also come out if washed wet.

After washing and drying the silk highlights will be stiff. You can get them soft again using a knife brushing agains pile direction with the unsharpend side of the knife. After that vacuum with rotating brush in pile direction.

Please post a picture of the back showing a measure in cm if possible on an area with different colored knots, then it will be easier to tell the quality and actual price. Size seems to be somewhere around 250 x 300 cm?
Art Oriental - Djoharian fine oriental rug, since 1967
Ludwigstr. 21 97816 Lohr, Bavaria - Germany
https://www.the-rug-store.de
https://www.facebook.com...TeppicheArtOrientalGmbh
https://www.instagram.com/djoharian_collection/



Little-Persia Offline
#3 Posted : Saturday, January 22, 2011 11:27:09 AM(UTC)
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KAD wrote:
From what I see you should not worry. The rug is not a Tabriz (which is good because Tabriz colors are often not very stable and would have run). It is a fine Kashmir rug (which is good in this case because these have very stable colors) with (art?) silk highlights.

How do you wash the rugs? Do you clean them with a spray extractor and vacuum them afterwards or do you wash and shampoo really wet and dry in a centrifuge and drying room?

First way will not help, but second should get the rug back to as new condition. The wave should also come out if washed wet.

After washing and drying the silk highlights will be stiff. You can get them soft again using a knife brushing agains pile direction with the unsharpend side of the knife. After that vacuum with rotating brush in pile direction.

Please post a picture of the back showing a measure in cm if possible on an area with different colored knots, then it will be easier to tell the quality and actual price. Size seems to be somewhere around 250 x 300 cm?


KAD,

Pictures are attached. What makes you say Kashmir? If it wasn't Tabriz, if anything we were thinking Chinese...? We rotary shampoo and then spray extraction after beating the hell out of it. Dried with a fan and dehumidifier.

Yes that's the size (roughly).



bukhara Offline
#4 Posted : Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:21:32 PM(UTC)
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KAD as always right. This rug from India
KAD Offline
#5 Posted : Monday, January 24, 2011 7:03:02 AM(UTC)
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Thanks for the flowers, bukhara!
The colors are typical. Also the knots and the wool. Another option I was thinking of was around Jaipur due to the luster of the wool. Chinese would look a little different on the knots. I am pretty shure if you do the rotary shampoo the rug should look great again. A 16/16 wool silk ist around 500 - 550 Euro retail /m².
Art Oriental - Djoharian fine oriental rug, since 1967
Ludwigstr. 21 97816 Lohr, Bavaria - Germany
https://www.the-rug-store.de
https://www.facebook.com...TeppicheArtOrientalGmbh
https://www.instagram.com/djoharian_collection/



bukhara Offline
#6 Posted : Monday, January 24, 2011 9:05:35 AM(UTC)
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agree, from around Jaipur
Little-Persia Offline
#7 Posted : Wednesday, January 26, 2011 11:52:30 AM(UTC)
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KAD wrote:
Thanks for the flowers, bukhara!
The colors are typical. Also the knots and the wool. Another option I was thinking of was around Jaipur due to the luster of the wool. Chinese would look a little different on the knots. I am pretty shure if you do the rotary shampoo the rug should look great again. A 16/16 wool silk ist around 500 - 550 Euro retail /m².


Think he's happy to go with the cleaning (and after dusting it a bit it's starting to look a lot better already) rather than push for a replacement but the rug is around 440KPSI not 256 (which is why when we were questioning whether or not it was Persian or not we then thought Chinese, we've not come across any Indians that are as fine as this one).
KAD Offline
#8 Posted : Thursday, February 3, 2011 9:05:32 AM(UTC)
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How did the rug turn out after washing?
Art Oriental - Djoharian fine oriental rug, since 1967
Ludwigstr. 21 97816 Lohr, Bavaria - Germany
https://www.the-rug-store.de
https://www.facebook.com...TeppicheArtOrientalGmbh
https://www.instagram.com/djoharian_collection/



Little-Persia Offline
#9 Posted : Thursday, February 3, 2011 9:26:10 AM(UTC)
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It's turned out rather well, we're keeping it in to be sure it's 100% dry. Will try to take pictures and get them up later today.
Little-Persia Offline
#10 Posted : Saturday, February 5, 2011 10:31:55 AM(UTC)
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KAD wrote:
How did the rug turn out after washing?


Kad,

The rug turned out quite well, not perfect (there are a few patches that are slightly darker - shadows) but then it was over 20 years old before the flood so I've no idea of its condition before then.

Gave the customer a letter for the insurance company to explain that even though the rug looks like it's back to a good condition the foundation may have been damaged long term as it was lying wet for a month - hopefully he'll be able to negotiate some form of settlement.



Nathan Offline
#11 Posted : Tuesday, August 30, 2011 11:33:56 AM(UTC)
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Hi there there is special cleaner for rugs here.
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