Expert: Jahann and Sons Persian Rugs - 7/7/2008

Question
QUESTION: I purchased a Surya carpet online from Costco about 3 years ago.  It was and still is beautiful but...it has to  developed a very noticeable pungent odor.  It seems to permeate the entire carpet and come may possibly come from the backing. We have only had it spot cleaned by a professional to clean up dog messes.  The odor was there before that occurred. Could it be from the material in the rug?  Any suggestions?

ANSWER: Hello Denise,

Thank you for your question.  I'm guessing that the smell is a foot/rotten egg smell.  Unfortunately, what you're smelling is the latex glue that was used to put together your tufted rug.  Over time, the glue of these rugs begins to break down and smell.  It is not something that will come out, as it has to do with the rug's age and generally gets worse with time.

I wish I had better news.  Being in the cleaning business, this is a problem that comes up all the time, and believe me, if there were a fix, we'd have found it by now.  The shorter lifespan of the hand-tufted rugs is the reason why I suggest that our customers only purchase hand-knotted rugs and sometimes machine-made if those are out of the budget.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Best,
Katie (ruglady@jahannandsons.com)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: That is bad news, but thank you for your response.  What do you suggest I do with it?  I wouldn't feel right selling it to anyone with this odor.
Denise

Answer
So sorry for the delayed reponse.  I've never gotten a follow-up question before.  What I've noticed with the tufted rug smell is that only neat people notice it.  Depending on how pungent the odor is, you may want to give it to a messy brother or young cousin.  The rug will look nice, and they'll probably never notice :)