AboutJahann and Sons Persian Rugs Expertise I can answer any and all questions you have regarding the cleaning, restoration and repair of Oriental rugs. I am more than happy to view your pictures via email and to give you advice on what you can do yourself and what needs to be left to the pros. I can also advise on the cost-effectiveness of repair on your rugs.
Experience My family has had a Persian carpet store in the Washington, DC metro area for nearly 30 years.
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.