Carpet Bright UK has its head office in Croydon, south London. It’s a forward-looking sort of place with a growing hi-tech business community and fast transport links, handy for central London and also close to the M25.
But Croydon doesn’t just look forward: it also looks back. Since we moved into our office at Airport House Business Centre, we’ve been learning about history right on our doorstep.
Airport House was the site of the first London Airport (although lots of people think this was Heathrow). Croydon Airport closed in 1959 when there wasn’t enough room to build new runways. There’s an airport museum in the building, and just outside the front door is a Heron Havilland aeroplane, used to fly the jet-setting rich and famous around the world back in the days when air travel was unusual and glamorous. That seems like a very long time ago!
In June each year, Croydon remembers its past with its annual Heritage Festival. The airport museum takes part and we’ve been seeing visitors and guided tours near our office. We’ve also been learning about other famous buildings in the area: the Old Palace (these days it’s a school) where Henry VIII used to spend his summers, the beautiful Minster church, rebuilt in 1867 after the original Saxon building was burnt to the ground… and there’s even a Grade 2 listed tower windmill in Shirley.
Because we love what we do, learning about the heritage all around us has got us thinking about keeping those places clean, and preserving their beautiful contents for future generations.
Cleaning antique carpets is definitely a job for specialists. A professional cleaner will pick a hand cleaning technique that’s both thorough and sensitive to the precise needs of your rug.
Cleaning a carpet or rug is about extending its life. Dirt particles and other impurities don’t just sit on the surface – they get trodden in, cutting and damaging the fibres themselves. When many years have gone by, the carpet is at risk of falling apart. So with a delicate antique, special brushes need to be used, to dislodge as many of the dirt particles as possible. Next there will be a sensitive but deep-penetrating cleaning method that washes every fibre from end to end.
Drying is just as important as washing. A carpet that doesn’t dry properly is at severe risk of contracting mould or mildew. Antique rugs can also suffer from browning, where the water rises to the tips of the fibres before evaporating, leaving behind dark stains left by materials that have dissolved in the water. It’s vital to make sure that the rug dries out gently but properly.
A specialist will also want to know where a carpet or rug came from. If it was made in a part of the world where water is scarce – a beautiful Persian rug would be a good example – it may not have been rinsed as well as it needed to be after dyeing. So when it’s cleaned later on, there’s a risk of dye-bleeding. An antique rug cleaner checks for this in advance to avoid the problem and can also reduce bleeding that’s already occurred, restoring the carpet’s intricate patterns.
We’ve very much enjoyed learning about Croydon’s Heritage Festival and we’d like to congratulate the Whitgift Foundation, a 400-year-old charity based in the area, on running such a successful and interesting event. We’re really looking forward to next year!
Whether or not your carpets and rugs are antiques, why not book a regular deep clean with Carpet Bright UK as part of your cleaning routine to prolong their life and keep them looking their very best? Our skilled technicians are trained to use professional cleaning equipment and tackle the problems you can’t, protecting value of your investments for years to come.
Carpet Bright UK is the fast, professional solution to all your carpet cleaning needs. To book one of our carpet cleaners in South Croydon call 020 3011 0153.
