Raymond Homsi has one goal in mind when a customer is in need of his services — and that is to get the customer’s Oriental rug looking as nice as it did the day it was purchased.
That means cleaning it and/or repairing it, but either way, Homsi says he and his team at Oriental Rug Care, which is located on Johns Rd. in the Town & Country area of Tampa, is your best choice to get the job done right.
Homsi has been in the rug business for more than a decade, even previously owning his own Oriental rug shop, and has always specialized in restoring the beautiful colors while protecting the intricate designs of Oriental rugs.
He says that cleaning the rugs is the most popular request by his customers. Oriental rugs are often handmade and also are often very expensive/valuable. The rugs can be family heirlooms, or even investments, depending upon the quality. So, a yearly cleaning can be pretty important, although Homsi says a deep cleaning from Oriental Rug Care can last 2-4 years.
“Each rug is treated differently, depending upon the contents of the rug (which are sometimes made of delicate materials, like silk), and depending on the colors,” Homsi says. “If it’s handmade, it’s a different process we use, but there are all sorts of different processes and different products. It all depends upon the rug.”
The care taken by Oriental Rug Care helps preserve many of the qualities of the rug, and is especially useful for people who have pets that may pee or chew on the rug.
“An amazing rug cleaning company,” says one of the 5-Star reviews on Google.com. “Staff came to my house and gave me a quote for cleaning my four oriental rugs. Price was right and the turnaround was quick. I love the way my rugs came out and I highly recommend this company for any of your rug cleanings.”
While you can certainly try to clean your own rug, there is a danger of disrupting the distinctive patterns and even dulling some of the deep, rich colors associated with Oriental rugs — and some fabrics are more easily damaged than others.
“Regular carpeting is just something that is synthetic and very basic and when they get cleaned out, it’s with heavy pressure washing machines or a truck mount or whatever,” Homsi says. “This is not what we do. We don’t apply heavy water, we don’t apply pressure water. Because that kind of leaves a little bit of, you know, smell and mold. We use a lot of scrubbing from the foam that we create from our natural products.”
While there may not be a school someone goes to in order to learn the art of the cleaning, Homsi says these skills are generally learned through many years of practice and experience.
“Years and years,” Homsi says. “Our guys are very experienced. You learn as you go. And you know, you’re working with so many different types of rugs that you just accumulate that knowledge.”
Oriental rug at home, you probably will need to call oriental Rug Care.
Oriental Rug Care also will attack pet odors and stain removal, provide sanitizing and deodorizing and also help with unwanted colors that may be the result of heavy traffic.
And not only that, Oriental Rug Care will come out to your home and give you a free estimate. If you decide to use their service, they will pick the rug up and return it to you when your service has been completed.
Homsi says the time between pick-up and drop off can be weeks for some companies, but Oriental Rug Care says they usually can have your rug back in 7-10 days.
“I think that’s where we stand out in the crowd,” Homsi says. “Even though we’re a small company, the main thing I hear from my clients is that our turnaround is very, very good and very fast…We’re very organized. We work on the rugs as soon as we get them.”
Cleaning rugs is just one part of the Oriental Rug Care business. Homsi says he has master rug weavers on staff who can repair even the most delicate Oriental rugs.
That includes repairing or replacing rug fringes, altering the rug size, restoring faded colors, fixing holes or rips or even rebinding the sides to give your rug a few added years of life.
“My rug was too long for the hallway and I called Ray — he is full of energy and knowledge,” wrote one of Oriental Rug Care’s customers. “He returned my call, showed up on time, gave me a fair quote to trim the rug’s length, remove the antiquated frills, clean it thoroughly and attach leather bonding to the underbelly. (He) kept me updated often, texting pics, and even delivered the rugs himself!”
Oriental Rug Care is located at 6101 Johns Rd., Ste 9, in Tampa. It is open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. If you mention this story, you can receive 25% off any service. For more information, call (727) 377-9577, or visit OrientalRugCareCleaning.com.
