Wool area rugs are not wall-to-wall carpet. They're not even the same chemistry as most synthetic rugs. Wool is a protein fiber — same family as your hair — and it reacts to alkaline cleaners the way your hair reacts to bleach. That's how most rugs get damaged: a wall-to-wall machine running an alkaline cleaner, dragged across a wool rug.
Spiker's process starts with a dye-stability test on a hidden corner. Some hand-knotted rugs bleed under any water at all. If the test shows bleed, we switch the process — sometimes to off-site immersion cleaning, sometimes we tell you straight that an in-home clean isn't right for the rug. Honest answer beats a ruined Persian.
For wool rugs that pass the test: pH-balanced wool-safe chemistry, controlled drying so the dyes don't migrate, fringe by hand. Same care for a $200 synthetic and a $20,000 antique.