Your Rug Gets Washed at Our Shop. Not on Your Living Room Floor.
Area rug cleaning for wool, Persian, Turkish, braided, shag, and hide. Dusted first, washed through, dried flat under control. Free pickup and delivery across the Rogue Valley.
Wool works like an air filter. The scales on the fiber catch grit and hide it deep in the pile, so a rug looks fine while pounds of sand sit in the foundation.
By the time you notice, those particles have been grinding against the fibers for months. That is what actually destroys a rug, not stains.
Up to 80 percent of the soil in a rug is dry particulate, and it has to come out before water goes in. Add water first and that soil turns to mud inside the foundation, where nothing reaches it.
The equipment that removes it vibrates the back of the rug on a grid. It is not portable and it does not run on a living room floor.
That is why we pick your rug up.
Plenty of companies will clean a rug where it lies. Here is what you actually get.
| In your home | At our shop | |
|---|---|---|
| Dusting | Not possible | Full dusting before water |
| Wash | Top of the pile only | Immersion, front through back |
| Rinse | Limited | Flushed until clear |
| Water removal | Wand suction | Centrifuge, most moisture out in minutes |
| Drying | Slow, on your floor | Flat, controlled airflow both sides |
| Fringe | Usually skipped | Hand washed |
| Your floor | At risk from moisture | Untouched |
A rug drying slowly on hardwood is two problems. Wool holds moisture a long time, and what is underneath holds it longer.
When in home is fine. Low pile machine made synthetics, nothing valuable, light soil. We will say so rather than quote you a wash you do not need.
Everything else gets professional rug washing at the shop.
Look at the back. It tells you more than the front.
| Fiber | How to spot it |
|---|---|
| Wool | Springs back when you press it. Slightly coarse. Burns to a brittle ash and smells like burnt hair. |
| Viscose | Very shiny, silky, cool to touch. Crushes flat and stays flat. Sheds fine fuzz. Sold as art silk. |
| Silk | Shiny like viscose but strong and resilient. Warm to touch. Knots visible on the back. |
| Nylon | Springy synthetic. Holds shape well. Common in high traffic rugs. |
| Polypropylene | Plastic feel, slightly waxy. Very common in outdoor and budget rugs. |
| Jute or sisal | Rough, natural, woven flat. Browns badly if it gets wet. |
The back also shows construction. Hand knotted rugs show individual knots and the pattern reads clearly through to the back. Machine made rugs show a uniform grid and often a latex backing. Tufted rugs have a fabric backing glued on, which hides everything.
Viscose. If your rug is viscose and someone cleans it like wool, it is finished.
Viscose is regenerated cellulose made from wood pulp. It sells as art silk, faux silk, bamboo silk, banana silk, rayon, or tencel. None of those are silk. It looks like silk in the showroom and behaves like paper once damp.
What water does to it
Hot water extraction damages viscose immediately. So does alkaline chemistry, and so does a rented machine.
A lot of viscose reaches Medford homes through mainstream furniture retail. If your rug came from West Elm, CB2, or a Pottery Barn catalogue in the last decade, there is a fair chance it is viscose regardless of what the label says.
We test fiber before quoting, every time. If it comes back viscose we put in writing what can realistically be done, which is low moisture treatment with controlled drying, and what cannot.
Persian, Turkish, Afghan, Pakistani, Caucasian. Oriental rug cleaning uses cool to warm water and neutral pH chemistry. Hot water and aggressive detergent shrink wool, run natural dyes, and strip the lanolin that protects the fiber. Every color gets a colorfastness test before the rug goes in the water.
Silk, antique rugs, and pieces with fragile cotton foundations. These get hand washing and WoolSafe approved chemistry where wool is involved.
Polypropylene, nylon, polyester. The most common rugs in Rogue Valley rentals and family rooms, and often the ones we can clean in your home.
Ruggable and similar systems are built for a home washer. If that is what you have, we will tell you to save your money.
Common in older Jackson County homes. Construction matters more than fiber, since stitching can open under aggressive handling.
These hide more soil than anything else we take in. Dusting does most of the work.
No pile to hide behind, so dye bleeding shows immediately.
Water and heat stiffen the backing permanently, so this is a different process again.
Cellulosic browning is the risk and it is often permanent. Low moisture only, and we say no when the answer is no.
Fiber, construction, warp and weft condition, colorfastness, and any existing damage. We photograph everything before the rug leaves your house.
Mechanical vibration on the back pulls out dry soil that vacuuming never reached. This is the step in home cleaning cannot do.
Every color, not just the field. Fugitive dyes get stabilized first or the rug does not get washed.
Full immersion so water and chemistry pass through the pile, through the foundation, and out the back. This is what removes urine salts, dander, and embedded allergens.
Flushed until the water runs clear. Detergent left behind is why some rugs resoil within weeks.
Centrifuge removes most moisture in minutes, which prevents dye migration and browning before drying starts.
Airflow both sides in a controlled space. Never rolled, never hung wet.
Pile reset with the nap, fringe hand washed, final inspection.
Wool rugs feed two insects, and most owners find out too late.
Webbing clothes moth larvae eat the wool itself, usually under furniture where the rug never gets vacuumed. You will see grazed patches where the pile is chewed to the foundation, plus silky webbing and grit sized casings.
Carpet beetle larvae do the same damage and leave shed skins behind.
Check the back edges and anywhere a rug sits under a sofa. If you find casings, do not steam clean it. Warmth and moisture without full immersion is close to ideal hatching conditions.
Immersion washing kills active infestation. We inspect for it on every wool rug that comes in.
We collect across Medford, Central Point, Jacksonville, Phoenix, Talent, Ashland, White City, Eagle Point, and the wider Rogue Valley. No charge either direction.
Turnaround is 3 to 7 days. Wool takes longer than synthetic. Heavy urine work takes longer again. You get a date at pickup.
| Rug | Approximate size | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| 5x8 synthetic | 40 sq ft | $100 to $160 |
| 8x10 wool | 80 sq ft | $200 to $400 |
| 9x12 hand knotted | 108 sq ft | $325 to $650 |
| Runner | 2.5x10 | $65 to $150 |
Urine decontamination, moth treatment, fringe repair, and dye stabilization are quoted separately after inspection.
Rug washing is one of several services we run in the valley. See the full list on our Medford carpet cleaning home page.
Three to seven days for most rugs, depending on fiber, construction, and drying time. Wool takes longer than synthetic.
For low pile synthetics, often yes. For wool, Oriental, or anything with value, no. A rug needs dusting, immersion, and controlled drying, and none of those happen on a living room floor.
Most rugs run $2.50 to $6.00 per square foot for standard rug cleaning in Medford. An 8x10 wool rug typically lands between $200 and $400. Firm number after inspection.
We test every color before washing. Fugitive dyes get stabilized first or we decline the wash. Vegetable dyed antique pieces get tested more carefully than modern synthetics.
Usually, and immersion is why. Urine passes through the pile and crystallizes in the foundation. Surface cleaning leaves the source behind. Severe cases need a decontamination bath, quoted after inspection.
Often, if you move fast. Under 48 hours with no mildew is usually recoverable. After 72 hours, foundation damage and mildew become real risks. Viscose is the exception and rarely recovers.
Yes. Oriental rug cleaning is a large part of what comes through the shop, especially after estate sales across the Rogue Valley. Hand knotted pieces get colorfastness testing, cool water immersion, and flat drying every time.
Yes, by hand. Fringe is cotton, not wool, and needs different treatment from the pile. It is the most commonly skipped part of a rug clean.
Every 12 to 24 months for most homes here. Annually with pets, high traffic, or allergies. Late autumn works well, after smoke season and before the heating runs.
Yes, and most rugs in this valley do not have one. A pad stops sliding, keeps grit from grinding into the foundation, and protects the floor underneath.
Same day and next day openings most weeks. You get the price before we start and it does not move.
Serving Medford, Central Point, Jacksonville, Phoenix, Talent, Ashland, White City, Eagle Point, Gold Hill, Rogue River, Shady Cove, and Jackson County.