Tufted rugs are different in construction and quality from woven rugs. Each knot on a woven rug is hand-tied, but on a tufted rug, each loop is created using a tool called a tufting gun.
The back of the rug is then coated with a latex glue, which holds the tufts in place, and usually, there’s a cloth material sewn onto the back to cover up the glue.
If your rug has a material backing on it, it’s probably tufted, although some needlepoints and hooked rugs have material on the back as well.
About 5% of the tufted rug market is very high-end, custom-designed, and custom-made rugs with excellent fibers, dyes, and construction, and these rugs are sold for thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars.
The other 95% are lower-end products coming from India and China and sold through large online retailers and megastores.
The great thing about these lower-end rugs is that they make wool rugs very affordable, but this affordability comes with a shorter lifespan and an assortment of cleaning and use problems because corners have been cut in order to produce them at a lower price.
Here are some common issues with many tufted rugs.
First of all, many tufted rug manufacturers, primarily in India, mix powdered marble dust in with the latex glue. This filler weakens the glue and can lead to premature cracking, powdering, and delamination of the tufts.
The person with the tufting gun follows stencil marks on the backing of the rug to create the patterns of the rug. Sometimes those stencil marks aren’t colorfast and any type of liquid that reaches the backing of the rug, including spills and even washing the rug, can cause those marks to bleed through to the surface fibers of the rugs, staining them often permanently.
Unfortunately, there really isn’t any way to know if the stencil marks on a rug are colorfast or not until you have a problem. This is a manufacturing flaw and any reputable manufacturer of rugs should replace a rug with this type of problem. This problem occurs most often from Chinese tufted rug manufacturers.
Sometimes the latex glue used in the manufacturing process becomes sour or rotten. This bad latex can cause serious odor issues that can’t be fixed. Sometimes this odor is an issue when the rug is new and sometimes the problem shows up as the rug ages.
Again, this is a manufacturing flaw that any reputable manufacturer should replace. We see this problem most often in lower priced tufted rugs from India.
The other common odor issue can happen with any type of latex rug as a result of pet stains. Pet urine can soak into and combine with the latex layer of the rug and can often be impossible to remove.
Because the layer of latex doesn’t let the floor under the rug breathe, it is possible for lower-end tufted rugs to have mildew on the cotton backing of the rug. This is especially true in humid areas. This mildew can create an odor and can trigger allergies in those with mildew sensitivity. Rug pads can help prevent this problem.
The latex backing helps to give a tufted rug its shape. As the latex breaks down, the rug can lose its shape and buckle.
Buckling is more common in heavy traffic areas, if tufted rugs are placed on carpet instead of on hard floors, and sometimes if heavy furniture is placed on them.
Finally, as the latex breaks down, it can discolor the flooring underneath the rug. This discoloration can be permanent depending on the type of flooring and the severity of the discoloration. Rug pads can often help to prevent this problem.
Those are the most common tufted rug issues we see as rug washers, but most tufted rugs are reasonably well made and will provide years of service if properly cared for.
The important thing to understand about tufted rugs is that they are made quickly and have a shorter life than a woven rug. A woven rug may last hundreds of years, while most tufted rugs may have a life of only 10 years or even less. Because of this, you might call them disposable rugs.
If you have immediate issues with powdering on the floor, odor issues, or very heavy shedding of the wool, then return or exchange those rugs right away.
Wool rugs are supposed to be washed, and if the rug is in good shape and is relatively new, a gentle immersion washing should be no problem.
If the rug is lightly soiled, surface cleaning with standard carpet cleaning equipment can even be an option, but if the tufted rug is dirty or has pet stains or urine, it must be immersion washed because immersion washing is the only way to get it truly clean all the way through the foundation.
If the latex backing is weak, older, or delaminated, however, the rug may not stand up to even the most gentle washing process. If this happens, a repair is necessary.
This involves scraping off as much of the old latex as possible, adding a layer of pure, undiluted, high-quality latex, and replacing the material backing of the rug. This can make the rug last longer, but the cost of washing and repair can often meet or exceed the price of buying another tufted rug.
Tufted rugs can have sentimental value or might be hard to replace, and for these reasons, we immersion wash many tufted rugs and we repair them as well.
If you’d like some advice on what to do with your tufted rugs, give us a call and we’ll be happy to help you out.
