What’s That Rubbery Smell Coming from My Area Rug? – Prescott AZ
It’s not unusual for clients to come to me and ask if we at Arizona Oriental & Specialty Rug Care can take care of odors in their area rugs with cleaning. For odors that are musty or caused by urine, the answer is typically yes. However, if your rug is smelling like rubber or latex, then there may be nothing we can do for the odors with just cleaning alone.
Rubbery odors are pretty unique to tufted rugs. Tufted rugs are made by punching the fibers through a foundation fabric (as opposed to knotting the yarns individually), which then gets held together by a layer of latex glue. To make it look pretty, a piece of monkscloth is glued to the back of the rug. Depending on the quality of the glue that the manufacturer uses, odors can arise years down the road or very soon after purchasing the rug.
The use of low-quality glue creates this rubbery latex smell that can stink up a whole room in no time. It’s a pretty unappealing odor and certainly not what you want to have coming from a rug that you enjoy having in your home.
Unfortunately, when it comes to these types of odors, having your rug washed and deodorized with us won’t do much good. The problem is with the construction of the rug itself. While Arizona Oriental does a great job at getting other odors out, we can’t do much for odors that are caused by the glue holding the rug together.
If your tufted rug is older and the backing is beginning to lift up and show signs of detaching, there is the possibility that our repair shop can remove the current backing, scrape off all the old, low-quality glue, and then apply a fresh layer of higher quality glue and a new piece of monkscloth over the back. Getting rid of the old glue can help to lessen these odors – they may not go away completely but it can certainly help quite a bit. Unfortunately, as I said, this is really only an option for rugs that are in need of this repair to begin with.
If you have a rug that has odors and you aren’t sure what’s causing them, feel free to give us a call or stop by the shop any time! We are more than happy to answer any questions you may have and help in whatever way we can.
Till next time, enjoy your beautiful art for your floor and remember a clean rug is a rug that can last you a lifetime!
Arizona Oriental & Specialty Rug Care serves Prescott, Prescott Valley, Sedona, and much of the Northern Arizona areas. We meet the highest standards in professional cleaning of area rugs with rug wash specialists having earned the highest training, including certification as WOOLSAFE FIBRE CARE SPECIALISTS through the WOOLSAFE ORGANISATION. Such extraordinary certification ensures the area rugs of our client’s receive the utmost in care.
Call us for more information on how to handle stinky area rugs and quotes at 928-445-1718, visit our website at www.ArizonaOriental.com, or stop by Monday through Friday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at our rug washing facility at 565 EZ Street, Prescott, AZ 86301 (pick-up and delivery also available). (01-24-17)
