Persian & Oriental rug cleaning
Cold water.
Seven days.
One rug at a time.
The 12-step hand-washing process that has been the quiet standard for Bay Area collectors, designers and heirloom owners since 1978.
30-minute callback
Get a free written estimate.
No site visit needed. Send your rug type and a photo if you have one — we’ll quote, schedule pickup, and have it back in 7–10 days.
Why hand-wash
Machines clean carpets.
Rugs need hands.
Most rugs made before 1930 use natural vegetable dyes. These produce the mellow patina collectors prize — but they are highly sensitive to the alkaline soaps that fuel standard carpet cleaning. One wrong wash and the reds bleed into the ivories, permanently.
Antique wool also retains natural lanolin — the oil that gives it sheen and softness. Steam cleaning strips it, leaving the fibres brittle and prone to shedding. Our cold-water submersion wash preserves that lanolin, which is why a rug cleaned here feels supple, not chalky, when it comes home.
The 12-step process
One rug. Twelve stages.
Nothing skipped.
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Initial inspection and pickup
We photograph the rug, note dyes, weave type, fringe condition, and flag any pre-existing damage before anything leaves your home.
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Detailed follow-up inspection
Under studio lighting at our facility a second craftsman re-examines the foundation and identifies any repairs to quote separately.
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Compressed-air dusting
Before a single drop of water touches the rug we remove the embedded dry soil — up to a pound of dust from a 9×12 — that would otherwise turn to mud.
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Pre-treat spots and urine
Targeted enzymatic treatment for pet accidents, wine, coffee. We treat before the wash, not in it.
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Cold-water immersion wash
The rug is submerged and hand-agitated with pH-neutral soap in cold water. Dyes stay locked. Lanolin stays in the wool.
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Clear-water rinse
Repeated fresh-water rinses until every trace of soap is gone — soap residue is the fastest way to re-soil a rug.
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Gentle extraction
Controlled pressure removes water from the foundation without flexing the knots.
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Flat air-dry
Laid flat in a climate-controlled drying room for 24 – 48 hours. No forced heat. No hanging — hanging stretches knots.
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Fringe detail
Fringes are bleached or tinted only as needed, hand-brushed, and any loose wefts are secured before the rug leaves the bench.
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Pile grooming
The pile is hand-brushed in the nap direction to restore the surface sheen you see on a freshly-made rug.
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Final quality inspection
A third sign-off. Front and back. If anything is less than our standard the rug goes back a step.
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Wrap and delivery
Wrapped in breathable paper, delivered to your door, and rolled into place. We return with a written certificate of cleaning.
Before & after
Receipts, not promises.
A hand-knotted Persian Tabriz, greyed by decades of traffic and dust, returned to full color with our 12-step cold-water hand wash.
Free estimate first
Every Persian rug is inspected before work begins.
You receive a written scope-of-work first. Pickup and delivery across the Bay Area are included. Repairs, re-dyeing and moth treatment are always quoted separately after inspection.
Clients
What Bay Area collectors say.
“A 1920s Sarouk I inherited from my grandmother. Five bidders pushed ultrasound and a quick turnaround. ABC said cold water, by hand, ten days. It came back brighter than I remembered from childhood — and the foundation is still as tight as the day they took it.”
“We specify ABC for every Atherton install where the rug came with the house. Honest scope letters, careful pickup, and they will say no when a rug shouldn’t be washed. That kind of restraint is rare in this trade.”
“My father’s Tabriz had moth damage along one edge and a faded section from a sunny window. ABC rewove the corner so cleanly I genuinely cannot find the seam, and the colors finally read as one rug again. Worth every day of the wait.”
Questions
What people usually ask.
How long does the full process take?
Seven to ten business days door-to-door. Heavy repairs, color work, and moth treatment may extend the timeline — we’ll tell you exactly what to expect during the initial inspection.
Do you really pick up for free?
Yes. Pickup and delivery across the San Francisco Bay Area — from San Francisco and Marin through Palo Alto and San Jose — is included at no cost.
Can you remove pet urine?
In most cases, yes. Urine is treated enzymatically before the wash, then the rug goes through the full immersion cycle. If the foundation is damaged we’ll show you the limits honestly before we begin.
Is hand-washing safe for antique rugs?
It is the only safe method for antique rugs with vegetable dyes. Machine and steam methods strip lanolin and can bleed natural dyes. Our cold-water protocol was designed specifically for rugs over 50 years old.
Do you work with insurance for water damage?
We do. We document condition photographically, write a clear scope-of-work letter, and bill insurance directly in most Bay Area carriers’ workflows.
Where does the work actually happen?
In our climate-controlled Newark atelier, the single shop where every rug is hand-washed. Every rug is tracked by barcode from pickup to delivery.
Book your pickup
The next step is the easy one.
Tell us about your rug. We respond within 24 hours with a pickup window and a written estimate.