Q. Why are you more expensive than some other rug cleaning services?

A. Doug's Rug Care is the only certified rug care facility in Central Pennsylvania. The carpet cleaning industry is not regulated in any way. This means that anyone can call themselves a professional, true professionals spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours attending college level training courses. Our prices reflect our education, training, experience, and the quality of products we use to care for your rugs.

Proper rug cleaning is a painstaking process that requires specialized equipment; this is why the process is done outside of the home. Wall-to-wall carpet cleaners without specialized training and equipment clean your rugs the same way they clean wall-to-wall carpet. They use hot water extraction, otherwise known as steam cleaning, and this allows them to offer a very low price.

Steam Cleaning is okay for inexpensive synthetic fiber area rugs, but it's about the most harmful thing you can do to a wool, cotton, or silk rug. For natural fibers, hand-woven or hand-knotted rugs, and high-quality machine-woven rugs, there is no substitute for thorough hand washing and proper drying.

Dry cleaners do not have the proper equipment either. They typically send out your rug and have it... You guessed it, they steam clean it!

A. Doug's Rug Care can clean or repair everything from heirloom antiques and hand-woven oriental rugs to machine-made area rugs. Some of the types of rug we clean include persian and chinese rugs, kilims and dhurries, flokati rugs, sisal rugs, braided rugs, flat weave rugs, tufted rugs, rag rugs, as well as Karastan® rugs and other machine-woven rugs. Our Master Textile Cleaner can handle everything from the finest silks and wools to the synthetic or man-made fibers.

A. Anywhere from 1 to 3 years, depending on the amount of traffic and other environmental conditions. If you have pets or unusually high traffic, you should have your rugs professionally cleaned every year. If the rug is in an environment where smoking takes place, you should have it professionally cleaned every 6 months. It's important to note that rugs can be dirty long before they appear dirty and that wool rugs, in particular, can succumb to moth infestation, if they are not cleaned regularly.

A. Usually 7 to 10 days. Once the rug is cleaned, it is squeegeed and hung for drying. This part of the process takes several days at constant 70 to 80 degree temperatures. Once the rug is brought down, the fringes are hand washed without the use of damaging chemicals like bleach. If the rug requires additional cleaning, repairs, or if pet urine is present, the process will take longer.

A. Not only can we get rid of pet odors, but we are the only rug care facility in Central Pennsylvania to guarantee pet odor removal from rugs and we do not use masking agents to simply cover the odor.

A. Not if you want it to last. Leather wipes are intended for spot cleaning and they can cause irreparable damage to nubuck and aniline leathers.

A. Household cleaning products can damage the finish of your leather upholstery and cause cracking. These products will also cause irreparable damage to nubuck and aniline leathers.

A. Professional cleaning will extend the life of your leather upholstery.

A. Professionally applied fabric protector can prevent stains from setting and protect your carped from the wear and tear of day-to-day traffic.

A. Our cleaning products are safe for the environment as well as all the humans and pets in your household. Professionally cleaned carpets, rugs and upholstery are less prone to microbial growth and removing soil and other contaminants will result in improved indoor air quality for your family..

Time is not on your side with spills, so act quickly. Blot liquids with a dry, white cloth or plain, white paper towels (without designs). Resist the urge to scrub. Just continue to blot until the area is essentially dry. If the stain persists use a solution of 8 parts water and 2 parts white vinegar to dampen the area (don't soak it, just dampen it) and continue to blot with a clean and dry part of the cloth or paper towel.

Remove solids or semi-solids like dried food, modeling clay, and finger-paint by scraping-up with a rounded spoon and vacuum. Do not add moisture. Once all solids are removed, treat the remaining stain as described above.

Most commercially-available stain-removal products will cause permanent fiber damage. The spot may come out, but the product does not know when to stop working and you could see color loss or fiber damage weeks or even months after the initial application.

If you are anywhere in Central Pennsylvania, call Doug's Rug Care at (814) 808-5071 as soon as possible to avoid permanent damage. If you are outside Central Pennsylvania, make sure the rug care company you call is an IICRC Certified Firm and that their certifications include Rug Cleaning Technician (RCT) before you trust them with your valuable rug.