Why can’t I steam clean my oriental rug?

Hot-water extraction (steam cleaning) is built for synthetic wall-to-wall carpet, not hand-knotted rugs. The heat felts and shrinks wool, the high pressure drives water into the foundation, and the alkaline detergent strips lanolin and disturbs natural dyes. The result is shrinkage, dye migration, and foundation damage that is expensive or impossible to reverse. Museum textiles are never steam cleaned for exactly these reasons.

How long does professional rug cleaning take?

Most cleaning jobs at our Skokie workshop are complete in 5–7 business days. That includes inspection and dye testing, dry soil extraction, hand washing, 48–72 hours of controlled flat drying, grooming, and final inspection. Thicker or heavily soiled rugs take longer. Rush turnaround can sometimes be arranged — call Bobby to check availability.

How much does rug cleaning cost in Chicago?

Cleaning starts at $200, and a typical project falls between $200 and $800. The final figure depends on fibre, size, condition, and any special treatment. Every rug receives a free written estimate before any work begins, so you always approve the price first — there are no surprise charges.

Do you offer free pickup?

Yes. We provide free insured pickup and delivery throughout Chicago and the North Shore — Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, Skokie, Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Northbrook, and Glenview — plus western suburbs including Hinsdale, Oak Park, and Naperville. We come to you, roll the rug properly, and photograph it for chain-of-custody.

Are you IICRC certified?

Yes, Ahmadi Rug is an IICRC-certified firm. Beyond that certification, our methods follow textile-conservation practice — the discipline Ghorban Ahmadi trained in under conservators whose work served the Louvre, British Museum, and State Hermitage collections.

Can you remove pet urine smell from a rug?

Yes, when the rug is treatable. Urine odour comes from alkaline salts that crystallise in the foundation and release smell in humidity. Surface sprays cannot reach them. We flush the contamination out through full-immersion washing combined with targeted decontamination of the affected zones, neutralising the salts rather than masking the smell. We will tell you honestly before starting what is fully recoverable.

What is conservation-grade cleaning?

Conservation-grade cleaning means treating each rug the way a museum textile conservator would: inspect and dye-test first, remove dry soil mechanically, hand-wash in cool water with pH-neutral chemistry matched to the fibre, and dry flat under controlled airflow. The goal is to clean thoroughly while preserving everything original — fibre, dye, and structure.

How often should I have my rug professionally cleaned?

For most rugs in normal household use, every 2–4 years is right. High-traffic rooms, homes with pets or children, and allergy-sensitive households lean toward the shorter end. Between professional cleanings, regular gentle vacuuming and prompt attention to spills do most of the maintenance.

Can you clean an antique Persian rug?

Yes — antique Persian rugs are a core specialty. They are cleaned as conservation objects: a closer inspection, gentler chemistry, more careful handling, and slower flat drying than a modern rug receives. Where an antique also needs structural work, cleaning is coordinated with restoration so the fibre is never stressed twice.

Will the colors run during cleaning?

Not when the rug is tested first. We run a dye-stability test on every colour before washing, checking how each dye responds to neutral, mildly acidic, and mildly alkaline conditions. If a dye shows movement, we adjust the method or set the dye before proceeding. Untested hot-water cleaning is what causes colours to run.

Do you clean silk rugs?

Yes. Silk is the most delicate fibre we handle, so it gets the gentlest treatment in the workshop — cooler water, shorter immersion, the mildest neutral chemistry, and closely watched flat drying. We also identify whether a rug is true silk, mercerised cotton, or viscose (art silk) first, because viscose behaves very differently in water and is easily ruined if mistaken for silk.

Can you remove moth larvae?

Yes. Cleaning flushes out larvae, eggs, and the casings and frass they leave behind, and we pair it with targeted moth treatment to stop an active infestation. We also flag early moth activity during inspection so you can act before the damage spreads. Persistent infestations are best handled with our dedicated moth treatment service.

What’s the difference between rug cleaning and carpet cleaning?

Wall-to-wall carpet is a fixed synthetic surface cleaned in place with hot-water extraction. A hand-knotted rug is a movable textile of protein fibre, natural dye, and a tensioned foundation — it must be inspected, dye-tested, dusted, and hand-washed off the floor, then dried flat. Using carpet equipment on a rug is the single most common cause of the damage we are later asked to repair.

Are your chemicals safe for kids and pets?

Yes. We use pH-neutral, non-ionic cleaning chemistry and rinse every rug until the water runs clear, so nothing harsh is left in the pile. Rugs come back clean and residue-free, ready for a household with children and pets.

How do I prepare my rug for pickup?

Very little is needed. Remove furniture from the rug if you can, and note any specific stains or problem areas so we can flag them at intake. Leave the rolling and wrapping to us — rolling a rug the wrong way can crack a dry or brittle foundation, so we handle that on site.

What if I’m not satisfied with the cleaning?

Tell us. In thirty-plus years our complaint rate has stayed at zero because we would rather make something right than leave a customer unhappy. If anything about the result is not what you expected, we will look at it and address it.

Do you fix damage during cleaning, or is that separate?

Repair and restoration are separate services, but we coordinate them with cleaning so your rug is only handled once. During inspection we flag any fraying edges, loose fringes, holes, or weak foundation, give you a written estimate, and — with your approval — carry out the repair in the same visit.

What’s your turnaround time?

Standard cleaning turnaround is 5–7 business days from pickup to delivery. Restoration and major repair add time depending on scope, which we quote up front. Rush cleaning can sometimes be arranged — ask when you book.

Do you guarantee your work?

Yes. Every rug is checked against its intake photographs before it leaves, you receive that photo record with the rug, and we stand behind the result. Our zero-complaint record over three generations is something we protect on every single job.

Can you clean a rug I bought overseas?

Absolutely — rugs bought in Istanbul, Tehran, Marrakech, Jaipur, and beyond come through the workshop regularly. We identify the fibre, weave, and likely origin, test the dyes, and clean it by the method that piece calls for. If you are also curious whether what you bought is what you were told, we are happy to give an informed opinion.

Conservation-grade cleaning · Chicago & North Shore

Persian & Oriental Rug Cleaning in Chicago — by Third-Generation Conservators

Cold-water hand washing for Persian, oriental, antique, and modern rugs across Chicago and the North Shore. Dye-tested before every wash, dried flat, never steamed — the method Ghorban Ahmadi learned training under conservators whose work served the Louvre, British Museum, and State Hermitage.

Get a Free Estimate (847) 440-1349 Text a photo

Text (847) 440-1349 — estimate within 30 minutes during workshop hours.

Hand washing a wool rug with suds at the Ahmadi Rug workshop in Skokie, Illinois

5.0 ★Google · 79 reviews
IICRCCertified firm
3rd-GenFamily conservators
FreeInsured pickup
10,000 sq ftSkokie workshop

Free insured pickup

Free insured pickup from Chicago, the North Shore, and surrounding suburbs

We collect your rug, hand-wash it in our Skokie workshop, and deliver it back wrapped and groomed — pickup and delivery are always free and fully insured. Choose your area for local detail, or call (847) 440-1349 to schedule.

What rug cleaning actually involves

Rug cleaning in Chicago is too often sold as a quick steam pass on the living-room floor. A hand-knotted rug needs the opposite: it has to come off the floor and through a controlled, five-step conservation process, because the pile is protein fibre, the foundation is under tension, and the dyes — on anything older — are fugitive. Here is exactly what we do, and what the wrong method does instead.

Antique Persian rug laid flat for inspection and measuring before cleaning — Ahmadi Rug, Chicago

Pre-inspection & dye-stability test

Every rug is logged, photographed front and back, and measured before a drop of water touches the pile. We then run a dye-stability test — dampening a hidden corner under neutral water, then under a mild acidic and a mild alkaline solution — to see whether any colour lifts onto the swab.

Why it matters: anything woven before about 1950 is dyed with natural dyes set by metallic mordants. Those dyes are fugitive — they run if they meet the wrong pH or temperature. Testing first is the difference between a wash and a ruined heirloom.

The wrong method: a truck-mounted carpet cleaner skips this entirely and pushes hot detergent into an untested rug. By the time red bleeds into ivory, the migration is already set.

Dry soil and grit lifted from an oriental rug before washing — Ahmadi Rug workshop, Skokie IL

Dry soil extraction

Before any water, embedded dry soil is driven out mechanically with compressed air and controlled agitation while the rug lies face-down over a grid. A single soiled rug can hold several pounds of fine grit deep in the foundation.

Why it matters: most of the wear in a hand-knotted rug is abrasion — sharp grit sawing against wool fibres every time someone walks across it. Removing that grit dry, before it turns to abrasive mud in water, is the step that actually preserves the pile.

The wrong method: a household vacuum only lifts surface lint. Wet-cleaning over trapped grit grinds it deeper and accelerates the very wear you paid to prevent.

Suds worked through the pile during cold-water hand washing — Ahmadi Rug, Chicago

Hand washing with pH-neutral conservation chemistry

The rug is washed by hand in a full-immersion bath using a non-ionic, pH-neutral chemistry matched to its specific fibre and dye. Water is kept cool — never above roughly 85°F for wool — and the pile is worked in the direction of the nap, then flushed until the rinse runs clear.

Why it matters: wool and silk are protein fibres. Heat felts and shrinks them, and alkaline detergent strips the lanolin that gives wool its lustre and resilience. Cool water and neutral chemistry clean the rug without damaging the fibre — the same principle museum textile conservators work by.

The wrong method: hot-water extraction at high alkalinity is built for synthetic wall-to-wall carpet. On a hand-knotted wool rug it causes felting, dulling, and dye migration that no amount of re-cleaning reverses.

Hand-washed rugs drying flat on racks under controlled airflow — Ahmadi Rug workshop, Skokie IL

Controlled flat drying

After a thorough rinse and gentle water extraction, the rug is dried flat — out of direct sun — on racks with managed airflow, typically over 48 to 72 hours depending on thickness and fibre. No tumble dryers, no heat lamps, no hanging a saturated rug over a rail.

Why it matters: a wet foundation under tension distorts. Dry a rug flat and even and it returns to square; dry it fast or hung and the cotton warps lift, the rug goes out of shape, and trapped moisture invites mildew. Patience here protects the geometry of the weave.

The wrong method: same-day "dry in an hour" services trap moisture in the foundation. Within a week the homeowner smells mildew and the rug has cupped at the edges.

Final inspection of a cleaned Persian rug’s pile and foundation before delivery — Ahmadi Rug, North Shore

Final inspection, grooming & delivery

Once dry, the pile is groomed to lie correctly, the fringes are combed straight, and the rug is checked against its intake photographs before it is wrapped. You receive the rug back with that photo record, and we flag anything we noticed — a loose selvage, early moth activity, a thin spot — so nothing is a surprise.

Why it matters: the final pass is also a free condition report from a conservator. Catching a fraying edge or a moth trail early is the difference between a $120 repair and a $1,200 reweave.

The wrong method: a rug returned rolled, damp, and un-inspected hides the problems that cleaning should have surfaced.

“The rugs we see with irreversible steam damage almost always arrived looking clean on the surface. The damage was underneath, in the foundation, from heat and pressure no one can undo.”

— Ahmadi Rug workshop, Skokie

Want a number before you call? Use our rug cleaning cost calculator to estimate your job by fibre type and dimensions, or read our complete rug care guide for everything that happens between professional cleanings.

Pricing

What rug cleaning costs in Chicago

Cleaning starts at $200, and a typical project runs $200–$800. Four things move the number:

Fibre type
Wool, silk, wool-silk blend, cotton, and synthetic each demand different chemistry and handling time. Silk and silk-blend pieces take the most care and time, so they price highest.
Size
Cleaning is priced from a per-square-foot baseline, so a 9×12 costs more than a 3×5. A per-rug minimum applies to small pieces.
Condition
Heavy soiling, pet damage, and especially urine contamination require added decontamination passes and longer handling, which affects the estimate.
Special treatment
Colour-run correction, foundation repair, moth treatment, or stain protection added during the same visit are quoted on top of the base clean.

Every rug receives a free written estimate before any work begins. You approve the price first — there are no surprise charges. Use the calculator below for an instant per-square-foot estimate.

Specialty cleaning

Cleaned to the fibre, not to a formula

Silk is not wool, an antique is not a modern rug, and pet urine is not a stain. Each gets a different hand.

Silk rug cleaning

Silk is the most demanding fibre we clean and the one most often ruined by the wrong hands. A fine silk rug — a Qum, a Hereke, a Kashmir, or a silk-highlighted city Persian — can carry a thousand or more knots per square inch, and the very quality that makes silk luminous also makes it fragile when wet. Silk loses a large share of its strength while saturated, its dyes are frequently the most fugitive of any fibre, and heat or alkalinity will dull the sheen permanently.

For silk we drop water temperature further than we do for wool, reduce immersion time, and use the gentlest neutral chemistry in the workshop. Dye testing is non-negotiable on every colour, and we groom the pile damp so the nap dries lying flat and keeps its light. Drying is slower and more closely watched than on a wool piece. Done correctly, a silk rug comes back with the depth and glow it had when it was new.

If your rug is silk — or you are not sure whether it is silk, mercerised cotton, or art silk (viscose), which behave very differently in water — send us a photo before anyone touches it. A misidentified viscose rug cleaned as if it were silk is one of the most common ways a "washable" rug is destroyed.

Read our full guide to silk rug cleaning →

Wool rug cleaning

Wool is the backbone of the hand-knotted world, and most of the rugs that leave our Skokie workshop are wool. Good wool is remarkably forgiving — it resists soil, springs back from compression, and holds dye beautifully — but it has two non-negotiable enemies: heat and high alkalinity. Both come standard on the equipment most "rug cleaners" actually own.

Heat felts wool: the scales on each fibre lock together and the pile turns coarse, matted, and dull in a way that cannot be reversed. High-alkaline detergent strips lanolin, the natural oil that gives wool its resilience and quiet lustre, leaving the rug dry, brittle, and prone to shedding. Our process keeps the bath cool and the chemistry neutral, so the wool is cleaned without ever being cooked or stripped.

Wool also holds an extraordinary amount of dry soil deep in the pile, which is why the dry-extraction step matters so much before washing. A wool rug that is dusted properly, washed cool, and dried flat comes back soft, bright, and structurally sound — and it stays cleaner longer because the abrasive grit is genuinely gone, not just damped down.

Read how we clean wool rugs →

Antique rug cleaning

An antique rug — generally one over about eighty years old — is cleaned as a conservation object, not a household furnishing. Age changes everything: the foundation may be weakened, earlier repairs may be hidden in the pile, the dyes are almost always natural and fugitive, and the value at stake can run to five and six figures. The goal shifts from "make it look new" to "clean it safely while preserving everything original."

We begin with a closer inspection than a modern rug receives — mapping weak areas, prior reweaves, sun-faded zones, and any dyes that show movement under test. Washing is gentler, chemistry milder, handling more careful, and drying slower and flatter. Where an antique needs structural attention, cleaning is coordinated with our restoration work so the fibre is never stressed twice.

This is the work Ghorban Ahmadi trained for under conservators whose work served the Louvre, British Museum, and State Hermitage collections — the discipline of doing as little as the rug needs and nothing it cannot withstand. If you have inherited or acquired an antique and are unsure of its age or origin, we are glad to give an informed opinion before any cleaning is scheduled.

Read how to identify an antique rug →

Pet urine & odor removal

Pet urine is not a surface stain — it is a chemistry problem that lives in the foundation. Fresh urine is mildly acidic, but as it dries it turns alkaline and crystallises into salts that bond to the fibre, draw moisture back out of the air, and keep releasing odour every humid day. Worse, alkaline urine salts are exactly the conditions that make natural dyes bleed, which is why so many pet accidents leave a permanent brown or red halo.

Surface cleaning and consumer "enzyme" sprays cannot reach this. The contamination has to be flushed out of the rug entirely, which means full-immersion washing combined with targeted decontamination of the affected zones — neutralising the salts, breaking down the odour-causing compounds, and rinsing until the foundation is genuinely clean rather than merely masked.

Severe or repeated contamination sometimes also needs colour correction where the urine has already moved a dye, and we will tell you honestly before we start what is recoverable and what is not. The result of a proper decontamination is a rug that is clean to the foundation and stays odour-free — not one that smells fine until the next humid afternoon.

Read pet odor & urine removal →

Persian rug cleaning

Persian rug cleaning is the core of what we do. Woven across Iran in distinct weaving centres — Tabriz, Kashan, Heriz, Kerman, Isfahan, Qum, Nain, Sarouk, Bidjar, Mashhad — Persian rugs share the traits that make hot-water cleaning so dangerous: hand-spun wool or silk pile, a cotton or silk foundation under tension, and natural dyes fixed by mordants that are sensitive to both heat and pH.

Each region also has its own quirks a careful cleaner has to know. A Heriz carries heavy, lanolin-rich wool that dusts and washes robustly; a fine Isfahan or Nain has delicate silk highlights that need a gentler hand; an older Kerman may have a soft, easily abraded pile. We match the wash to the piece rather than running every Persian rug through one recipe.

The method itself is unchanging: inspect, dye-test every colour, dust thoroughly, hand-wash cool with neutral chemistry, and dry flat. It is slower than dropping a rug through a machine, and it is the only approach that respects what a Persian rug actually is — a hand-knotted textile meant to outlive its owner.

Read Persian rug cleaning in Chicago →

Oriental rug cleaning

"Oriental" covers the broader hand-knotted world beyond Persia — Turkish rugs from Oushak, Hereke, and Konya; Caucasian weavings such as Kazak, Shirvan, and Karabagh; Afghan and Central Asian Bokhara and Tekke; and the Chinese, Indian, and Moroccan traditions. They differ in pattern, palette, and weave, but they share the same fundamental construction and the same vulnerability to heat and alkalinity.

Because the category is so broad, identification matters before cleaning. A flatweave Caucasian kilim has no pile to protect but every reason to bleed; a thick Moroccan Beni Ourain is undyed natural wool that shows every cleaning mistake; an antique Chinese rug may have been chemically washed at origin in ways that affect how it responds now. We read the rug first, then choose the wash.

Whatever the origin, the principles hold: cold-water hand washing, dye testing, thorough dusting, and flat drying — performed in-house in Skokie, never outsourced. If you have a piece from a tradition not listed here, send photos and we will tell you exactly how we would approach it.

Read oriental rug cleaning in Chicago →

Conditions we treat

Cleaning often surfaces something more

A wash frequently reveals damage that was hidden in the pile. When it does, we can treat it in the same visit.

Rugs we work on

We clean every type of hand-knotted rug

From a village Kazak to a fine silk Qum, each tradition has its own wool, dye, and weave — and its own correct handling.

PersianTabriz, Kashan, Heriz, Kerman, Isfahan, Qum, Nain, Sarouk, Bidjar, Mashhad
TurkishHereke, Oushak, Konya
CaucasianKazak, Shirvan, Karabagh
MoroccanBeni Ourain, Boucherouite
TibetanWool and wool-silk knotted pile
IndianAgra, Jaipur
ChineseArt Deco, Peking
ArmenianAntique and tribal weavings
AfghanBokhara, tribal Baluch
PakistaniBokhara and fine hand-knotted

From the workshop

Before & after

Real rugs, real homes across Chicago and the North Shore. Photos are being matched from the workshop archive.

Before
After
19th-century Tabriz
Full hand wash & re-block
Lake Forest
Before
After
Antique ivory-ground Tabriz
Sun-fade colour correction
North Shore
Before
After
Wool Oushak
Sun-fade colour correction
Wilmette
Before
After
Fine silk floral rug
Fringe & pile restoration
Skokie
Before
After
Red Sarouk
Hand reweaving
Lincoln Park
Before
After
Antique tribal runner
Wash & re-blocking
Skokie

Cleaning calculator

Estimate your rug cleaning in 30 seconds

Enter dimensions and rug type for a ballpark range. A firm written quote follows after Bobby inspects the rug or sees a photo.

1 · Dimensions

Width (ft)Length (ft)

Enter both dimensions.

2 · Rug type

Reviews

What our clients say.

★★★★★

5.0 · 79+ Google reviews

★★★★★
“I can't speak highly enough of Bobby and Ahmadi Rug! Before we called, we had significant damage to our handmade wool rugs from small clothing moths. I called several rug cleaning services and none came close to the level of expertise, service, and kindness I experienced with Bobby. They look great now and I'm so happy.”
Linda Braasch
Chicago
★★★★★
“Wonderful! My handmade rug was restored and cleaned beautifully after having been on my floor for over 20 years with pets. The sides had been damaged from cats and the fringe was uneven. I had almost considered it beyond repair and was so surprised when it was rolled out in front of me.”
Deborah Kraak
Chicago
★★★★★
“Highly recommend for silk rug cleaning! We had a silk rug that needed a deep clean as well as glue removal and we could not be happier with the results. Bobby was very communicative throughout the whole process and answered questions as needed!”
Heather Arden
Chicago
★★★★★
“Bobby and his crew are fabulous! Pick up, deliver, repair a damaged area of the wool, clean — all with a smile. So refreshing to do business the old fashioned way of care, high quality and trust.”
Linda Larkin
Chicago
★★★★★
“Our rug was fixed perfectly by Ahmadi Rug. Bobby provides excellent customer service and is very professional. Highly recommend.”
Jenny Sokolowski
Skokie area
★★★★★
“The only place to bring your rugs in the country. My oriental rugs were sitting in flood water for over a week. Ahmadi Rug did such a wonderful job, I decided to bring them my damaged rugs from my Florida home — one had extensive moth damage. The Ahmadi family worked to restore a rug that had very high sentimental value to me.”
Google Reviewer
Chicago

Common questions

Why can’t I steam clean my oriental rug?
Hot-water extraction (steam cleaning) is built for synthetic wall-to-wall carpet, not hand-knotted rugs. The heat felts and shrinks wool, the high pressure drives water into the foundation, and the alkaline detergent strips lanolin and disturbs natural dyes. The result is shrinkage, dye migration, and foundation damage that is expensive or impossible to reverse. Museum textiles are never steam cleaned for exactly these reasons.
How long does professional rug cleaning take?
Most cleaning jobs at our Skokie workshop are complete in 5–7 business days. That includes inspection and dye testing, dry soil extraction, hand washing, 48–72 hours of controlled flat drying, grooming, and final inspection. Thicker or heavily soiled rugs take longer. Rush turnaround can sometimes be arranged — call Bobby to check availability.
How much does rug cleaning cost in Chicago?
Cleaning starts at $200, and a typical project falls between $200 and $800. The final figure depends on fibre, size, condition, and any special treatment. Every rug receives a free written estimate before any work begins, so you always approve the price first — there are no surprise charges.
Do you offer free pickup?
Yes. We provide free insured pickup and delivery throughout Chicago and the North Shore — Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, Skokie, Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Northbrook, and Glenview — plus western suburbs including Hinsdale, Oak Park, and Naperville. We come to you, roll the rug properly, and photograph it for chain-of-custody.
Are you IICRC certified?
Yes, Ahmadi Rug is an IICRC-certified firm. Beyond that certification, our methods follow textile-conservation practice — the discipline Ghorban Ahmadi trained in under conservators whose work served the Louvre, British Museum, and State Hermitage collections.
Can you remove pet urine smell from a rug?
Yes, when the rug is treatable. Urine odour comes from alkaline salts that crystallise in the foundation and release smell in humidity. Surface sprays cannot reach them. We flush the contamination out through full-immersion washing combined with targeted decontamination of the affected zones, neutralising the salts rather than masking the smell. We will tell you honestly before starting what is fully recoverable.
What is conservation-grade cleaning?
Conservation-grade cleaning means treating each rug the way a museum textile conservator would: inspect and dye-test first, remove dry soil mechanically, hand-wash in cool water with pH-neutral chemistry matched to the fibre, and dry flat under controlled airflow. The goal is to clean thoroughly while preserving everything original — fibre, dye, and structure.
How often should I have my rug professionally cleaned?
For most rugs in normal household use, every 2–4 years is right. High-traffic rooms, homes with pets or children, and allergy-sensitive households lean toward the shorter end. Between professional cleanings, regular gentle vacuuming and prompt attention to spills do most of the maintenance.
Can you clean an antique Persian rug?
Yes — antique Persian rugs are a core specialty. They are cleaned as conservation objects: a closer inspection, gentler chemistry, more careful handling, and slower flat drying than a modern rug receives. Where an antique also needs structural work, cleaning is coordinated with restoration so the fibre is never stressed twice.
Will the colors run during cleaning?
Not when the rug is tested first. We run a dye-stability test on every colour before washing, checking how each dye responds to neutral, mildly acidic, and mildly alkaline conditions. If a dye shows movement, we adjust the method or set the dye before proceeding. Untested hot-water cleaning is what causes colours to run.
Do you clean silk rugs?
Yes. Silk is the most delicate fibre we handle, so it gets the gentlest treatment in the workshop — cooler water, shorter immersion, the mildest neutral chemistry, and closely watched flat drying. We also identify whether a rug is true silk, mercerised cotton, or viscose (art silk) first, because viscose behaves very differently in water and is easily ruined if mistaken for silk.
Can you remove moth larvae?
Yes. Cleaning flushes out larvae, eggs, and the casings and frass they leave behind, and we pair it with targeted moth treatment to stop an active infestation. We also flag early moth activity during inspection so you can act before the damage spreads. Persistent infestations are best handled with our dedicated moth treatment service.
What’s the difference between rug cleaning and carpet cleaning?
Wall-to-wall carpet is a fixed synthetic surface cleaned in place with hot-water extraction. A hand-knotted rug is a movable textile of protein fibre, natural dye, and a tensioned foundation — it must be inspected, dye-tested, dusted, and hand-washed off the floor, then dried flat. Using carpet equipment on a rug is the single most common cause of the damage we are later asked to repair.
Are your chemicals safe for kids and pets?
Yes. We use pH-neutral, non-ionic cleaning chemistry and rinse every rug until the water runs clear, so nothing harsh is left in the pile. Rugs come back clean and residue-free, ready for a household with children and pets.
How do I prepare my rug for pickup?
Very little is needed. Remove furniture from the rug if you can, and note any specific stains or problem areas so we can flag them at intake. Leave the rolling and wrapping to us — rolling a rug the wrong way can crack a dry or brittle foundation, so we handle that on site.
What if I’m not satisfied with the cleaning?
Tell us. In thirty-plus years our complaint rate has stayed at zero because we would rather make something right than leave a customer unhappy. If anything about the result is not what you expected, we will look at it and address it.
Do you fix damage during cleaning, or is that separate?
Repair and restoration are separate services, but we coordinate them with cleaning so your rug is only handled once. During inspection we flag any fraying edges, loose fringes, holes, or weak foundation, give you a written estimate, and — with your approval — carry out the repair in the same visit.
What’s your turnaround time?
Standard cleaning turnaround is 5–7 business days from pickup to delivery. Restoration and major repair add time depending on scope, which we quote up front. Rush cleaning can sometimes be arranged — ask when you book.
Do you guarantee your work?
Yes. Every rug is checked against its intake photographs before it leaves, you receive that photo record with the rug, and we stand behind the result. Our zero-complaint record over three generations is something we protect on every single job.
Can you clean a rug I bought overseas?
Absolutely — rugs bought in Istanbul, Tehran, Marrakech, Jaipur, and beyond come through the workshop regularly. We identify the fibre, weave, and likely origin, test the dyes, and clean it by the method that piece calls for. If you are also curious whether what you bought is what you were told, we are happy to give an informed opinion.

Service area

Serving Chicago and the North Shore

Ahmadi Rug provides rug cleaning for homeowners and interior designers across Chicago and the North Shore. We offer free insured pickup and delivery from Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest, Highland Park, Northbrook, Glenview, and Skokie — as well as western suburbs including Hinsdale, Oak Park, and Naperville.

Most cleaning jobs are completed within 5–7 business days and returned freshly washed, groomed, and wrapped. Rush service is sometimes available — call Bobby for availability.

To schedule a free pickup from anywhere in our service area, call (847) 440-1349 or submit an estimate request online.

Related services

From our journal

Free written estimate

Your rug deserves the conservator’s method.

Send a photo or book a free insured pickup from anywhere in Chicago or the North Shore. We respond within 2 hours during workshop hours.

Get a Free Estimate (847) 440-1349

5.0★Google · 79+ reviews
RICARUG Index Certified
FreeInsured pickup
IICRCCertified firm
MuseumTrained methods
In-House10,000 sq ft workshop

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