Woven rugs, especially hand knotted rugs are designed to hide dry soil. A few years ago, the Eureka company did a study and found that a 9 x 12 could hide 87 pounds of dirt! WOW! We use a variety of techniques to “dust” the rugs from the front and back. A machine called a pile lifter, special vacuum attachments and any many other methods are implemented. This is the most important step in cleaning any textile.