Welcome to the personal website for Ruth Travis a.k.a. "The
Rug Lady."
With the unique perspective of a small fabric care and rug store business owner,
and flooring inspector, Ruth Travis has over 25 years experience in maintenance, restoration and inspection of carpet,
rugs and upholstery.
In
1988, Ruth and her her partner, Ginger started their fabric care service in Chattanooga, Tennessee where she performed
fabric cleaning, protection, and inspection and color correction services for her clients, interior designers and carpet mills.
In 1995 she opened a retail rug store, The Rug Exchange.
After selling her share of the business to her partner in 2001, Ruth shifted her focus to training
and instructing others in the fabric care industry.
Ruth is the Director of the WoolSafe Program in North America, and an IICRC-Approved
Instructor for Rug Cleaning and Color Repair. She is also an IICRC-Certified Carpet Inspector specializing in cleaning
realted issues and color correction. She also works as a consultant for Pro Care in Nashville, Tennessee and Chase Carpet
Care in Denver, CO where she oversees their rug cleaning operation.
To learn more about WoolSafe click here.
The IICRC approved the WoolSafe® Fabric Care
Specialist On-Line Training Course for two IICRC CECs. Previously the course was only offered in a face-to-face format with limited availability
to professional cleaners interested in learning more about wool and high-value wool carpet and rug cleaning. Now students will have the opportunity to choose to attend a course either in person or study on-line.
Originally established in 1991 by the International Wool Secretariat
(the Wool Bureau in North America) - the WoolSafe® Organization
launched an accreditation program for professional carpet cleaners in October of 1998.
The WoolSafe® Certified Operators program was created
in response to demand from the cleaning and carpet manufacturing industries and to raise the level of expertise in cleaning
wool floor coverings.
The WoolSafe®
Certified Operator program now operates in Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, Germany and Greece. It is launching in North America as the
WoolSafe® Fabric Care Specialist program.
Link to the WoolSafe On-line Course
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| November 2009 RCT class cleaned 24 rugs! |
| More than 180 rugs for students to view. |
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| San Diego 2010 |
In Ruth's "Hands-On, Boots On" rug class, we don't just talk about cleaning rugs, we actually clean 20-30 rugs
in every class. Students have not only paid their tuition, but they've even made money while learning by bringing their
rugs to the class to clean.
| Come get your feet wet! |
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| Link here for an overview of the RCT class. |
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| Ruth enjoying a client's private rug collection! |
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| Ruth helps students in IICRC Color Repair Technician course |
Ruth consults with consumers and manufacturers as well as gives seminars and teaches courses through
her business, R L Seminars. For more information and fee schedule, contact her directly at 615-794-0250 or e-mail her at ruglady@mindspring.com. Private classes are available or if you're interested
in hosting a class in your area contact Ruth directly. Here's
a schedule of Ruth's upcoming classes: IICRC CRT (Color Repair Technician)
With
more than 5 hours devoted to "practical" training, this is one of the most "hand's-on" of all IICRC
cleaning related classes! Now including specialty spotting
and color repair for area rugs! CCT or CMT pre-requisite to take the IICRC exam.
*TBA.
Rug Cleaning Technician (RCT) This course will teach area rug identification and appropriate cleaning techniques
and methods to professional cleaning, restoration and inspection service providers as well as others in related industries. Emphasis will be placed on rug cleaning theory, practical
application, hand's-on techniques, and understanding rug cleaning limitations. Several rug cleaning methods
including submersion, dry compound, surface and shampoo will be demonstrated in the class.
Urine decontamination, fringe cleaning and
minor rug repairs will also be demonstrated by the instructors. And students will have the opportunity to view and inspect
more than 150 different rugs. CCT and UFT or CMT and UFT are pre-requisites.
Students are encouraged to bring in rugs to be cleaned during the class (limited size up to 8'
x 10').
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| Students cleaning a urine contaminated rug in the "pit." |
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| Ruth performing color correction on $10,000 Oriental rug |
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| Ruth demonstrates minor rug repair in RCT class |
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| Ruth flushing a soiled rug in the rug "spa" |
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| Ruth has collected more than 150 rugs to view in the class |
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ruglady@mindspring.com or woolsafusa@yahoo.com
