Your rug has become wet, very wet from some type of water damage and now what do you do? We recommend you take the following steps immediately without delay to lower the damage to your family heirloom and save it from becoming a loss. Sure, your insurance company may cover the loss however; you can’t replace the sentimental value the rug holds for your family.
So you find your rug standing in water immediately follow the steps below;
1. Remove any items atop of the rug like furniture to avoid the furniture from staining the rug and use a wet/dry vacuum to remove the excessive water before moving it. Reason is your wool rug can hold two times its weight in water thus making a rug much heavier to handle and could pull on the structure just enough to cause damage.
2. Remove the rug from the home and place on the driveway preferably on a slight incline to allow for the water to drain off the rug. Also make sure you limit your time walking on the rug to lessen damage to the rug too.
3. Do not roll the rug or place additional rugs onto each other this may cause one to bleed dyes into another.
4. Trace the source of the water issue to eliminate future or repeat offenses to your rug.
5. Take a picture of the rug prior to the water damage and immediately after for your records and if your rug has a value to it in the thousands, recommend you contact your insurance agent and add to the policy. Although you can’t sentimentally replace the loss rug, you at least can be compensated enough to afford a new one.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to give us a call and talk about taking the proper precautions before and after a flood issue occurs. We are Certified Master Rug Cleaners and understand what to do for this situation and we can even help determine the value of your rug too. Plus we just love to talk and look at rugs.