How and where to find a Reputable Rug and Carpet cleaner

If you never had to hire a carpet or rug cleaner, it can be hard to sort through the countless companies in your city.

How can you choose one that is reputable, does a professional job, stands behind what they do, and won’t price scam you?

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place to find a list of pre-screened rug and carpet cleaning companies?

Well I am here to tell you that such a place exists.

Your first place to search for a rug and carpet cleaner in the USA, Canada and even the UK is the Persian Carpet Guide, scroll down the page until you find your city.

Barry O’Connell from SpongoBongo.com has done the hard work for you. He has chosen the best cleaners in many cities using a strict list of guidelines. The companies must be ethical, have the correct training to clean rugs, have a functional website, professional, and clean with the correct methods.

If you don’t find a cleaner in your city, call one from a city close to you to see if they also clean in your area.

In Victoria BC, Luv-A-Rug is your Wool Safe certified area rug cleaners. We care about your rugs and are trained to care for them, making your rugs clean and healthy for your home.

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary- passionate about your rugs

Hey Vancouver BC, Luv-A-Rug can help your rugs that have moth damage

I just got off the phone with a lady from Vancouver BC, which is just across the water from Victoria BC. She was a bit frustrated at the lack of information and companies that take care of moth infested rugs in her area. One short 8 minute call with me, RugloverMary, and she feels much better that her rug can be saved. She has an Indu-Gabbeh that was purchased at the Swedish Home store and it is in the perfect colours for her new home, unfortunately it has moth damage.

I told her that Gabbeh rugs are my favorite all time rugs. I explained to her how the life cycle and feeding needs of the moths works, and what we do to eliminate moth infestations here at Luv-A-Rug, and I gave her a couple of names of companies in Vancouver area that might be able to help her.

Because I was very helpful, friendly and knew how to care for her rug, we are getting her rug brought over to us by courier for cleaning and moth control. Just because we are not in her immediate neighbourhood doesn’t mean that we cannot care for her rug.

If you do not live on Vancouver Island, or near Victoria, BC Luv-A-Rug can still clean and repair your rugs. Our courier is safe, insured and does overnight or next day delivery to most areas.

Here is my video showing a different Gabbeh rug that was a moth feast:

It is not the first time we have had area rugs shipped to us for cleaning. In May 2010 we had a rug from Vernon BC shipped to us for cleaning and repair after the storage unit it was in had a leak. It is also not the first time I have helped someone outside of Vancouver Island/Victoria BC with moth damage. Last year I helped a lady living in Winnipeg, Manitoba via e-mail that had moth damage.

It is nice being the wool moth expert. We all have to be good at something and I like the odd stuff. Moths gross people out, but for me they help me educate clients and the world about how to care, store, and save their beloved rugs

Here is the latest victim of moths to come to our shop. This rug had huge sentimental value to the client, but it was peed on by their dog and then rolled up and stored away without being cleaned. The moth larva had a good feast and were still feasting when I filmed them. This rug was unfortunately too far gone to be saved, so please always get pet accidents professionally cleaned right away.

So if you don’t live in Victoria BC, but find me, RugloverMary, or anything I wrote/filmed about moths contact me. I can help. Either we can get the rug to us here at Luv-A-rug or help you find the right professionals in your area.

Here are a few tips to protect your rugs from moth infestations:

• Always clean your rugs after a pet accident and storing for even a short time.
• Vacuum your entire rug and under the edges to eliminate the dirt moths need to survive.
• Clean your air ducts every year before using them.
• Clean away any old wasp, bird, rodent nests from outside your home and the attic.
• Get your rugs professionally cleaned by a Wool Safe Certified company every 1-3 years.

To contact Luv-A-Rug you can call us at 250-590-6210/800-886-2802 or e-mail me directly at mary.luvarug@shaw.ca or luvvie@shaw.ca

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary-helping protect wool rugs from Moths!

Related articles

• Is my rug worth cleaning? (arearugsvictoria.wordpress.com)

Forgive me Shag Rug Lovers…………

…but I am not a fan of Modern Shag rugs and here’s why.

The longer I work at Luv-A-Rug the more I get annoyed. I am annoyed at all the rug manufactures that make rugs out of fibers that cannot be cleaned. Some rugs once they get dirty and stained that is it they cannot be cleaned to look new and clean again.

I was looking at some rug selling websites this week and I was shocked at what they are using as fibers on some of these rugs. It looks like someone went to a craft store and bought all the fancy string, ribbon, felt, and cloth and then went and made rugs with it.

Don’t get me wrong the rugs look amazing, beautiful and modern, but they aren’t made to be walked on.

Shag rugs are not a bad rug choice when they are used properly. It would also be nice if not all shag rugs were off white, cream, or beige, at least the ones sold in Victoria BC.

I call Shag rugs the Divas of the rug world. They need to vacuumed and cleaned more often that other rugs, they are also sensitive to spills and pet urine. Plus some don’t like to be walked on.

My lack of appreciation for shag rugs may stem from the fact that even though I was born in the 70’s, I did not grow up with shag carpet in my home. Plus I am now looking at rugs from a cleaning point of view and an environmental one too.
When you are out looking for rugs think about vacuuming and cleaning it. If you don’t know how it can be vacuumed easily or how you would clean up a messy spill, you may want to keep looking for a more useable rug.

I know that in Victoria BC, because shag rugs are not expensive to buy that a lot end up getting tossed out and replaced, usually by another shag. I wrote about how we are a disposable/green society and the shag rugs I see fit right into that.

This is my plea to area rug makers to start making rugs that stand up to being used everyday and from fibers and products that last and are not harmful to humans, pets or the environment, Please!

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary- healthy, beautiful rug and environment lover

I travelled to 3 countries in 6 minutes

Yes, it is possible to travel at warp speed to any where in the world via the internet 🙂

Today in 4 minutes I saw Argentina in reverse thanks to JoshyWashington and in 2 minutes I saw Morocco and Spain thanks to 4000 photos by Mike Matas.

I did not go looking for either site today, they came to me. I first looked at the blog by Eric Warren because his blog is featured on Freshly Pressed today when I sighed onto WordPress.  His blog was about climbing Mt. Rainer in Washington State and since I live just across the water in Victoria, BC, Canada I had to read about it. Then in his twitter feed he wrote “You’ve never see a travel video like this one..”, so I had to check it out and off to Argentina I went.

On the right side of that page was other links and that lead me to the 4000 pictures in 2 minutes of Morocco and Spain. All that and I never had to deal with line ups, smelly airports and delays. How wonderful!

Surfing on the internet and being lead in different directions reminds me of how my passion for area rugs got started. I knew nothing about rugs except that they existed when I started at Luv-A-Rug in 2007. As I started seeing more and more different types of rugs, reading books about rugs, learning from the boss, and rug blogs/websites I discovered that rugs were more than just a floor covering. They are amazing pieces of art.

Just like the travel videos and blogs where one leads me to another, one aspect of area rugs lead me further and further into how they were made and why. These usable pieces of art have a magnificent history of war, blood shed, happiness, love, fallen Dynasties, empowerment, I could go on but you get the point.

The most interesting part of learning about rugs is that the back of the rug tells you the most about the rug. It shows you the weaving technique, how many knots per square inch, any forgotten spills, what type of weaver made the rug, if they used different batches of wool to weave the rug (abrash lines), so much more that the front of the rug says. Design and colour are one of the last things you use to identify an area rug.

Looking at this photo there is no way of telling how the rug was made or by who. All you can say is that the pattern is Oriental inspired, it is cream and blue with hints of teal. I like this rug very much because of the subtle diamond motifs around the center circle and the colours. But without seeing the back you can only guess at the type of rug it is.

This rug is an actual Chinese hand-knotted rug, since I do not have a photo of the back of the rug you are going to have to trust me.

As with most things we are passionate about there is no end to the amount of knowledge you can learn. Barry O’Connell is so knowledgeable that he can tell what area of the world a rug was woven because of the shade of green they used. Specific colours are made from certain plants, leaves, bugs, soil and because of this you can tell where the wool was dyed and by whom.

I find that absolutely amazing. In the ocean of area rug knowledge I know rain droplets compared to people like Barry and my boss, Dusty, but knowing people like this helps me learn more all the time.

It is this knowledge that sets Luv-A-Rug apart from everyone else when it comes to area rug cleaning. We care about your rugs and where they came from, how they are made and the best way to clean them and help them last for decades to come.

Next time you are killing time on your computer just relax and let the web take you by the hand and lead you to all kinds of neat and wonder websites and blogs.

When it comes time to clean your rugs contact Luv-A-Rug in Victoria BC 250-590-6210/1-800-886-2802, www.luvarug.com and we will take good care of your rugs. For the rest of the world find a rug cleaner in your town who is passionate about rugs and a certified Wool Safe cleaner.

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary, my name says it all!

>Who do you Recommend?

>If one of your clients asked you to recommend someone to clean something that you don’t do, do you have an answer?

Victoria, BC, Canada is not a very big city and because of that it is hard to be anonymous and elite. Luv-A-Rug recommends many other companies who clean or sell the services and products that we do not.

With Luv-A-Rug being in the area rug cleaning service, we get asked on a daily basis where to buy rugs. We have several rug galleries that we recommend, but we then take it a step further.

We educate our clients on what to look for in a good area rug.

We show them the different types of rugs and show them what to look for and to watch out for.

When the boss goes around to all the galleries he will often hear from them that they can tell when one of our clients are there looking at rugs. For you see our clients are the ones who are smelling and touching the area rugs. yes I said Smelling.

Why should you smell the rugs before you buy one? On certain area rugs an odour can already exist and that smell can get worse in your home. The smell is permanent, so be sure it isn’t too unpleasant to your nose.

Having an arsenal of different companies you know are good and reputable ups your reputation as well.

Today we had a lovely couple dropping off their area rug for cleaning. We got chatting and the misses mentioned that she had her drapes cleaned recently. I asked where she got them done because a few hours earlier another client asked us where was a good place to get her drapes cleaned.

It was Sidney Dry Cleaners in Sidney, BC that cleaned the drapes.

As the couple was leaving I heard the misses say that it was nice that we recommended each other. She is very pleased by the work that Sidney Dry Cleaners does and she is a repeat client of ours, the circle is complete.

She told me that she was going to make a point of telling Sidney Dry Cleaners that she brought her rugs to us for cleaning and that we recommend them. How sweet.

When clients trust you they trust who you recommend, so it is always good to go around to these business periodically and reconnect with them.

Remind them what you do, give them your business cards to hand out to their clients, ask them if they are doing any new services or have changed how they do things. A few minutes of chat time helps both businesses.

Now get out there and grab the good companies before they recommend someone else.

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

>Attention: Spring Cleaners Needed

>Sigh! Last weekend, April 18-20, was the first weekend where the weather was warm, sunny and spring-like in Victoria, BC. FINALLY!!

Today the majority of rugs that Luv-A-Rug has received for cleaning was for regular old dirt. No pet accidents, no flooding, just the accumulation of winter dirt.

Good thing we are the rug experts and love to rid your area rugs of dirt. As along as the weather keeps being nice, the spring cleaners will start popping out from hibernation. I know I did.

I started my “shed off the winter blues” cleaning last weekend. I feel so much lighter when I shed the dreariness of the last few months and start anew.

If I keep going at this rate I may even get up the notion to plant flowers, um.. maybe not. No, that seems a bit much for me because I kill plants faster than a drought plus I wasn’t blessed with a green thumb, finger or hand.

I do envy those who are though. I will stick to the dream that someday I will be able to hire someone to maintain a garden for me. That is such a lovely dream.

Remember that if you are packing up your winter rugs to get them cleaned and wrapped professionally for storage. You don’t want the surprise of finding out that moths or other unwanted guests made your area rug their summer home.

Luv-A-Rug can clean and wrap your rug to help protect it from unwanted summer visitors. Sorry we cannot help you with the human kind of unwanted visitors. I suggest not having any food in your fridge or cooking badly,(smile).

As we know it is the small things that make the biggest difference. Have you thought about brightening up your patio deck with a rug?

There are great outdoor friendly area rugs to make your outdoor living space a little more cheerier. A new rug for your kitchen can help shed the winter blues and perk up your mornings.

It doesn’t have to big or even fancy, just a punch of colour to wake up your senses. That is my suggestion for today, a new rug.

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

Slammed into a brick wall

You are cruising along your chosen road of life, having fun, working, doing your day-to-day and then WHAM! the proverbial brick wall pops up out of nowhere. That happened to me on Tuesday Oct. 14. I was having a good day, I got my nails done, got my two dogs nails done, voted, did some shopping, was getting ready to start cooking a beef roast, then as I was about to call my friend I noticed someone had called. I looked at the number and it was from Nova Scotia, my home province. I listened to the message that was left, it was my mother. The first thing I noticed was that my mother said my name, she never calls me Mary when she leaves messages she calls me Boo, plus the tone of her voice hinted that things were not well. My first thoughts went to my grandmother and then to my brother. I thought that maybe something happened to them. I called my mother even though there is a four-hour time difference and it was after 11pm Atlantic time.

The bad news was that my step dad has esophagus cancer! BAM! That is some freaking Brick wall!
They have known since August, but in true motherly fashion she didn’t want me to worry, hence the delay in calling me. Well sorry mom, but I am worried and now I am trying to find a way to get home because as bad as this sounds I would rather see my dad sick than dead. It has been at least 8 years since I have seen my mom and dad and this is the circumstances that force me to plan a trip across country. The really sad part of all this is I have known my step dad since I was 3 yrs old, he is my dad’s cousin and him and my mom married in 2000 two years after the divorce, but I don’t really know him at all and he doesn’t know me. Actually no one in my family really knows me since I never let them, we have the typical family structure- only talk when there is a death or holiday- some family members are closer but I am not unfortunately.

Okay so now you know too much personal tragic information, now to turn this around and write about area rug cleaning.

A few weeks ago we picked up an area rug for cleaning and the client asked about places to buy good area rugs in Victoria. We told her about several rug galleries to check out. The sad news is that she did not receive the level of service she should have nor get the area rug she wanted. It is unfortunate because now she may never go back to these rug galleries and she may have just been shopping on an off day. You know the days when you are actually looking for something and you really want to buy it and just keep running into a brick wall. Yeah those days, I hate those days. I enjoy shopping, as most females do, but if I am looking for a particular item especially clothing or shoes I will never find it.

This client who needs an area rug, willing to pay whatever it takes to get the right one, had a bad shopping experience. I felt horrible because we recommended these places and they completely dropped the ball without even realizing it. Victoria isn’t a big city and because of her bad experiences these rug galleries now have tainted her area rug shopping experience.

We all know that we cannot please everyone, but our level of service can be kept the same. Remember that!

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

Lost Rug Passion

I must apologize for my lack of blog writing. Nothing has change with work or anything, clients are still bringing in dirty area rugs and taking clean and healthy ones home. The only thing that has changed is me.

I’ve lost my passion for area rugs. It got lost in the shuffle of the day-to-day and I am still working on getting it back. A month ago a client brought in a Gabbeh and that didn’t get me out of it, but then about two weeks ago a Chobi area rug was brought in for cleaning and that stirred a little passion. It has been a while since we’ve had a Chobi in for cleaning and I love Chobi area rugs. I would like to blame my lack of passion for my job on my personal life, but I try very hard to keep my personal life separate from my job. Take today for instance I am dealing with a chipped heart and you would never know it, I just look a little tired (which I am). My co-workers know that I am not that happy inside but I am at work and that is what I am concentrating on.
Someone told me today that it was very brave of me to say that I was dealing with a chipped heart (I say chipped and not broken because it wasn’t a long thing). I found this perplexing. Why would it be brave of me to admit that I was human and had feelings? I am a very open person and have no problem expressing myself, hence the chipped heart, but I understand that some people have a hard time with saying how they feel.
Okay enough of that back to work and my lost rug Passion.
This job I have of being the front shop “girl” has so many opportunities and potential. Unfortunately my boss cannot tap into all my creative wants but some it would be nice to do. I would love to learn how to do hand repairs, do surging and binding of edges and learn more about area rugs in general. I am a hands on learner so reading about rugs on the Internet doesn’t keep my attention very long. I need to be able to feel, see and explore to understand fully.

Today I can feel autumn in the air. I have heard the ducks and geese staring their migration south, lucky birds. Soon it is back to school cleaning, same as spring cleaning just different month. We get a surge of area rugs to clean in Sept. because now that all the family and visitors have gone home it is time to freshen up and remove the summer time dirt. I just had a horrid thought: Soon it will be Thanksgiving (in Canada), then Halloween (my favorite holiday) and then GULP! Christmas. Where has the year gone? This picture is from our doorway, there were ducks in the picture, but by the time I focused the camera they were out of sight.It is a cloudy almost gloomy day here in Victoria, BC.

This has been one unforgettable year that is for sure, especially work wise. The fire will not be forgotten any time soon, mostly because of our shrunken office space. I miss having the cement tubes to store the rugs in. It was fast and easy to find the clients area rug, not so much now. I really, really don’t like taking 1-2 minutes looking for a rug when you know it is here, but then you get that sinking feeling that we called them too soon and their rug isn’t ready for pick up. It makes me feel incompetent, a feeling I do not like to feel and have felt a lot since we had to move to our new location.
This is how we have our rugs that are ready to go home
These are the rugs that are five feet and under. I must add a little note to my boss. My feelings of incompetence and frustration are not directed towards him in any way. I miss our old shop and how it was setup and the system we had there. Change isn’t one of my strong points, unless I am in control of it and the fire through me for a loop I wasn’t prepared for emotionally. It wouldn’t matter what if our new rug cleaning shop was the same size as our old one, it still wouldn’t feel the same. It is like visiting a relative you haven’t seen since you were young and the awkwardness that goes with that. That is how I feel, you have all the old memories, but they don’t correspond to the current surroundings.
This is where the large rugs rest before going home.

Enough of that. I have explained my feelings toward the move from Oak St so many times now that I am sick of it so you probably are too.
Writing this blog today should help get me back on track and write more like I used to.
Thanks for reading RugloverMary

Waiting for Spring Cleaners

Today was almost a normal day at the shop. It has been unusually warm for February lately and the spring cleaners are starting to emerge. We received about 30 rugs today, mostly small ones 6×9 and under, for cleaning. Received an awesome wall hanging for cleaning today. I forgot to ask permission to take pics and post them. The wall hanging depicts a wedding scene and is about 30 yrs. old. If I get the go ahead I will post them.
Had a visit from a local company today, Langenwalter Carpet Dyeing. They do dye repairs on wool, nylon, silk area rugs and carpets. It was great to chat with Darrell and get a feel for what his company does. I am a firm believer that you should have a great relationship with others that can help your business. I can’t word that the way I want. That was the purpose of my trip around to the area rug galleries. We recommend them and they recommend us. Win win situation. I now know the we don’t have to send area rugs out of Victoria, B.C. to get re-dyed or have dye repairs done. If you are near British Columbia, Ontario (in Canada), or in the United States check them out at www.langdye.com to see if they can help you!

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

Bad Weather equals Good Business

The weather has turned nasty today, strong winds and rain mixed with hail. Not a typical Victoria, BC day. Everyone is stuck on the island as the B.C. Ferries are not sailing. This weather does make our shop busy because of flooding and leaking. Some area rugs come in so sad-looking you would think that there was no use in trying, but there is always a use for trying.
I had a client come in to pick up his rugs and he got to call me a liar, in a nice way. One of his rugs came in with green stains on it, since he had no idea what caused the stains we couldn’t say for sure if they would come out. The stains were completely gone. He was very happy and said that the rug was too clean for use in their summer cottage. I apologized for our cleaning results, joking of course. I like clients with a good sense of humour.
I returned a call to a lovely charming woman today. She wasn’t having a good day and my phone call cheered her up. She had left a message asking if we repair rugs, her rug has a five-inch tear in it. She loves her rug very much and was very thrilled to hear that Luv-A-Rug does rug repairs.
It if wasn’t for bad weather and pets the rug cleaning business would be much slower. I would say at least two-thirds of the area rugs we clean are because of pets or flooding. I heard a story that one area rug cleaner asked his client for her cat’s birthday. She was a little perplexed as to why he would want to know. He replied it was so he could send him a ‘thank you’ present for bring him so much business. So true!
Thank you reading, RugloverMary