Name: siobhain

Message: Hello!  I just got an old flokati wool rug.  I think it is from the 60's or 70's.  It has a lot of stains on it.  Are there any products on the market that can safely lighten white wool that is stained?  

Thanks!

The best action would certainly be to call in carpet cleaning professionals. Check the yellow pages of your telephone directory to find a local company.

If you are unwilling to consider going to the expense of having the carpet cleaned by the pros, especially if it is very small, then you could try washing it. Water is the most powerful solvent known to science. A pH-balanced detergent, such as Orvus Paste, Synthrapol, or Woolite may help to remove the stains, without causing the damage that ordinary high-pH laundry detergents will cause to wool.  The detergent must be rinsed out thoroughly afterwards. It is no easy matter to hand-wash a rug.

In washing wool, you must beware of agitation, which will cause felting, and of too much heat, which will cause shrinkage. Use lukewarm water, and avoid the use of washing machines.

Wool can be "bleached" only with non-chlorine products, never with ordinary household chlorine bleach, which contains hypochlorite and will destroy wool. In the unlikely event that you need and want to try this step, you must use either hydrogen peroxide or a sulfur-based dye-reducing discharge chemical. These generally require heating, however, which is impractical for use at home without industrial-sized machines, in treating a large rug. See, for example, PRO Chemical & Dye's recipe for Bleaching Wool using Hydrogen Peroxide or their instructions for using thiourea dioxide to make a discharge bath for wool. I do not recommend that you try either of these procedures on your rug.

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