Berber carpet: do the cleaning yourself

What you need:

• absorbent, white cloth
• Vacuum cleaner with a soft nozzle for solid wood floors
• possibly. enzyme-free carpet shampoo

What is a real Berber?

• Well, when you say you have a real Berber at home, make the statement more specific because a real Berber can be a human, horse, or other carpet be.

• The term Berber also refers to several nomadic tribes from North Africa, as well as to the oldest, best-known horse breed. In Europe, the word is also related to homeless people through its association with the original migrant peoples. There is even a variety of potato that bears this name.

• Far better known, however, are the carpets, which are made by Moroccan women from the village of Amassine according to a centuries-old tradition. Such a carpet is knotted by hand from the special Moroccan sheep's wool.

The real carpet from Morocco has a meaning

• According to traditional belief, the Berber carpet should be provided with "Baraka", a divine power, so that it not only serves as a warming pad for its owner, but also for protection. That is why a real Berber carpet often bears a symbol to protect the owner from "evil eyes".

• The Berber carpet is currently experiencing a renaissance and is therefore made in Morocco, Algeria, India and Tunisia. The types of knot are a little different. Basically, however, Berber carpets consist of single or double knots.


How to clean Berber carpets properly

Berber is a name for ethnic groups in North Africa, in the countries of the Maghreb, before ...

Cleaning a floor covering from Morocco is easy

• A real Berber carpet is very easy to care for because it is made of pure new wool with a natural fat content, which is characterized by a dirt-repellent effect. This hard-wearing and sound-absorbing carpet offers maximum room comfort.

• On a real Berber carpet, the surface is sheared by hand and the sections are only swept away. This is the reason why a Berber rug appears very fluffy at first. The sections should deepen between the knotted new wool and felted with the base fabric.

• For this reason, you should by no means work on the Berber carpet with a vacuum cleaner, because you will remove the loose wool residues from the carpet. That damages the quality and in the long run you would have a long-term fluffy oriental carpet.

• For the first 6-8 weeks, just brush or use the Berber rug vacuum cleaner with a soft solid wood brush. As a rule, extensive cleaning of the hand-knotted Berber carpet is only necessary after many years, because the natural one Fat content (lanolin) protects the fibers exceptionally well, so that dirt cannot penetrate and only has to be vacuumed from the surface is.

• Should be fresh stains react quickly by working the stain with a white cloth and a soft brush. Depending on how intense the stain is, you can also use a little warm water. In specialist shops there are also enzyme-free shampoos for Berber carpets that you can use.

• If the stain is not sufficient to remove the stain with the cloth, try carefully to remove the stain with the back of a knife. Then dab with a cotton cloth that you have soaked in lukewarm water and then wrung out.

• You must remove stubborn dirt with an agent from a specialist retailer. Let us advise you which means you should take for which pollution.

• If you are reluctant to smell the new sheep's wool, it is advisable to ventilate the Berber carpet. D. In other words, ventilate your rooms intermittently on dry days by opening the window open completely. Please not during the rainy season, because the high humidity promotes odor formation.

• A complete cleaning by a specialist company may only be necessary after many years.