Rug cleaning and repair for a hand-knotted carpet
Rug cleaning and repair for a hand-knotted carpet
A hand-knotted rug is made to be cleaned properly and repaired when it needs it, so it reaches the next generation. This page explains how often to clean one, what our Belgian repair workshop can fix, and what to do the moment a stain lands on the wool or silk.
The short answer
A hand-knotted rug needs professional cleaning every 5 to 7 years depending on use, and almost any damage, from a worn fringe to a torn section, can be repaired in our Belgian atelier. Day-to-day care is simple: vacuum without a beater bar, rotate the rug twice a year, and blot a spill the moment it happens. Cleaning and repair costs are assessed per piece, always after we have seen the rug.
How often a hand-knotted rug needs cleaning
Wool and natural silk are self-cleaning in the sense that dust sits on top of the pile rather than sinking into it, which is why weekly vacuuming and a proper underlay carry a rug a long way between professional cleans. We recommend a full specialist wash every 5 to 7 years, sooner in a household with pets, young children or heavy foot traffic. A rug cleaned too rarely holds grit that cuts the fibres from the inside; a rug cleaned by the wrong service, one built for machine-made carpet, can come back with its dye stripped or its foundation shrunk. For the daily habits that stretch the years between washes, our maintenance guide covers vacuuming, rotation and underlay in full.
What to do with a stain today
Blot the spill immediately with a clean cloth, working from the outside in, and never rub. Every commission ships with our Wonder Case, so reach for the Stain Spray first and let it do the work before you touch the pile again. If the mark does not lift, stop there rather than experimenting, and send us a photo. Some stains are a five-minute fix; others need the piece in the atelier, and we would rather tell you which before you make it worse.
The Wonder Case, sent with every rug since 2018
We built the Wonder Case because a rug this good deserves proper products, not a bottle of carpet shampoo from under the sink. It ships free with every commission and includes our Stain Spray, Stain Wonder and other care products, sized for spot treatment between professional cleans. As far as we know, it was the first branded maintenance kit in the hand-knotted rug trade, and it now travels with every piece that leaves the atelier.
What our repair workshop restores
Our repair workshop sits in the same Belgian atelier where every rug is designed, and it handles what most cleaning services will not touch: re-securing loose fringes, rebuilding worn warp and weft, closing tears and holes, reworking damaged borders, and knot-for-knot reweaving with yarn match-dyed to the original. One client's dog once bit a section clean out of a carpet. We rewove it thread by thread and matched the dye so closely that, once finished, you could not find where the damage had been.
Washing and valuation, done by the same hands
Alongside repair, we run a specialist washing service built for hand-knotted wool and silk, and a valuation and appraisal service for insurance, inheritance or your own records. Both start the same way: we look at the piece in person and give you an honest opinion of what it needs and what it is worth, before anything is agreed. Full detail on booking either service is on our services page.
Why repair is worth it, and what it costs
A hand-knotted rug is built to outlast the person who bought it, and that only holds true if damage gets fixed instead of left to spread. A rug with a Rug Passport carries its dimensions, materials and provenance on record, which makes a repair easier to document for insurance and easier to justify years later. A tufted or machine-made rug rarely gets this far: the backing degrades before the pile does, and by the time it shows, restoring it costs more than the rug is worth.
Every piece is assessed in person first, because a worn fringe on a small rug and a torn field on a large silk piece are not the same job, and quoting either without seeing it would be a guess dressed up as a number. Send us photos through the contact page or bring the rug to the showroom in Evergem, and we tell you plainly what it needs and what that will cost.
Questions people ask about rug cleaning and repair
How often should a hand-knotted rug be professionally cleaned? Every 5 to 7 years under normal household use, sooner with pets, children or heavy foot traffic. Regular vacuuming without a beater bar and a quality underlay stretch the time between cleans.
Can a torn or damaged hand-knotted rug be repaired? In most cases, yes. Our Belgian repair workshop rebuilds warp and weft, closes tears, reworks borders and reweaves missing sections knot for knot with match-dyed yarn, including damage as severe as a bite taken out of the pile.
What is the Wonder Case? Our own maintenance kit, shipped free with every commission since 2018, with a Stain Spray, Stain Wonder and other care products for spot treatment between professional cleans. We believe it was the first branded kit of its kind in the hand-knotted trade.
What should I do if I spill something on my rug right now? Blot it immediately with a clean cloth, working from the outside of the stain inward, never rub. Use the Stain Spray from your Wonder Case, and if the mark does not lift, stop and send us a photo rather than trying something else.
How much does cleaning or repair cost? There is no fixed price. We assess every piece in person and give an honest opinion of what it needs before quoting anything, because the right approach depends entirely on the damage and the rug.
Do you also do valuations? Yes. We provide written valuations for insurance, inheritance or your own records, with the design, materials, knot density and current value of the piece.