About Us
Alan Falls
Owner & Rug Cleaner
- Graduated from Carroll High School
- Graduated from IPFW with an Associates Degree in Organizational Leadership and Supervision
- IICRC Approved Master Textile Cleaner
- IICRC Approved Rug Cleaning Technician
- IICRC Approved Odor Control Technician
- IICRC Approved Color Repair Technician
- Master Rug Cleaner Designation By Oriental Rug Cleaning
- Completion of WoolSafe Fiber Care Specialist Course
- Completion of Dyebold Acadmey Carpet Dyeing Class
Audrey Falls
Owner & Office Manager
- IICRC Approved Carpet Cleaning Technician
- Master Rug Cleaner Designation By Oriental Rug Cleaning
- Current Board Member for ARCS (Association of Rug Care Specialists)
- Completion of Dyebold Acadmey Carpet Dyeing Class
Joshua
Rug Cleaning Technician
Josh joins the Distinctive Team with over 10 years in the textile and reupholstery industry. In his free time, Josh enjoys playing table top games and spending time with his family and pets.
Wrigley Falls
Company Mascot
- Yorkshire Terrier bred by Anne at The Pets’ Parade in Warsaw, IN
- Completion of Fort Wayne Obedience Training Club’s Beginner Obedience Class
- Self-Declared Head of Neighborhood Security
- Master of Escaping the House or the Yard
- Loves sleeping 18 hours per day
- Brings endless joy and entertainment to his family
Our History
Alan Falls grew up working in his parents' cleaning & restoration company.
Alan Falls grew up working in his parents’ cleaning & restoration company. In 1992, at the young age of 8, Alan began helping on carpet cleaning jobs and with odds and ends around the shop. He always loved to learn new things and work hard, qualities his parents instilled within him and his younger brother.
His first full-time summer working with his father was in 2000, while he attended Carroll High School. After graduating from high school, Alan attended IPFW and graduated in 2005 with an Associate’s Degree in Organizational Leadership.
Later in 2005, he began managing and overseeing daily operations and growing his father’s business full-time. It was during this time that Alan grew his managerial and operations skills through attending many training courses, as well as becoming IICRC Master Certified in Textile Cleaning and Water Damage Restoration.
In 2014, Alan married Audrey, who is originally from Indianapolis, IN.
Audrey worked in the financial industry for almost a decade, which taught her how to solve challenges and explain solutions tactfully to her customers. When she joined Alan in the cleaning & restoration industry in 2015, it was a brand new world to her! Nevertheless, she put her nose to the grindstone and tried her best to learn it all – by attending training seminars, working hands-on in the field at customer’s homes and workplaces, developing relationships with new business partners, collaborating on marketing campaigns, and more.
Ever the creative and introspective soul, Audrey enjoys connecting with her clients over shared experiences, solving challenges, and discovering ways to work smarter, not harder.
In 2017, they added Wrigley to their family, a rambunctious and energetic Yorkshire terrier.
Together, Alan & Audrey began Distinctive Cleaning & Restoration in 2020.
At the start, Alan and Audrey offered in-home cleaning services. But from the very beginning, their vision was to bring in-facility full immersion rug washing services to North Eastern Indiana. When attending industry events and touring other cleaning companies around the country, Alan and Audrey realized this type of specialty cleaning service was thriving in other cities, but did not yet exist locally. So, they set out to bring their vision to life!
Getting Started
On April 1, 2020 Alan & Audrey started Distinctive Cleaning & Restoration In June 2020, a building at 2401 Pennsylvania St. was purchased. Originally, it was built around 1950 and was home to David’s Carpet Cleaners. This company cleaned carpet as well as oriental rugs but closed around 2000, so the building already had the perfect bones to be set up as a rug washing facility. It already had critical installations such as a sloped wash floor, a trough drain, large water main pipes, availability for three-phase power and more. Finding this building was like hitting the jackpot!
Steamatic Cleaning & Restoration of Fort Wayne closed in 2019 and auctioned off their equipment, Alan purchased a mechanical rug rack to hang rugs to dry overnight in a heated drying room.
So far, Alan and Audrey had completed about 2% of their vision, but it felt like they were on top of the world! Next, the entire building needed updated. As with most DIY projects, it took a lot longer than expected. For the next four years, Alan and Audrey would work at “the shop” (as they lovingly refer to it) on nights and weekends to transform the building into a state-of-the-art rug washing facility. Some of the projects tackled included landscaping, updating the office, epoxy coating on the floors, concrete block repair and painting, running industrial three-phase electrical service, plumbing to the machines, setting up equipment, replacing windows, doors, lights and ceiling fans.
Education & Experience
Alan and Audrey have always believed that “you can’t outperform your knowledge.” Even though Alan had been cleaning rugs in homes for years and had attended various cleaning courses around the country, they knew they needed to update their skills.
In 2021, they both attended the Master Rug Cleaner course in Dallas, TX, learning from two of the industry’s most knowledgeable rug and textile cleaners. A few important lessons learned in this course included rug identification, rug construction, the history of weaving and rug making around the world, identifying pre-existing conditions on all types of rugs, and how to safely clean all types of rugs from around the world. They also learned how to set up a rug washing facility with the proper equipment and in a way that would make sense for their building.
In 2022, they spent a full week working and learning from the team at Robert Mann Rugs in Denver Colorado, a very well-known and experienced rug cleaning company. From the beginning of the cleaning process to the very end, they worked on many unique rugs, including many Navajo rugs, and learned much about identifying rugs correctly, color correction, rug repairs and finishing. This week was a turning point as Alan and Audrey got to apply their knowledge on many real-world rugs and they fell in love with the process!
Throughout 2022 and 2023, Alan and Audrey toured and even worked with many other rug washing facilities around the country in Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis, New York, even Canada, to see how their equipment was set up and how their process flowed. This gave them so many ideas, tips and tricks on how to best set up their facility.
In 2024 they joined the Association of Rug Care Specialists on a two week trip to Turkey where they saw how wool was processed and dyed. They watched rugs being woven, cleaned and repaired. Read more about this special trip here.
Visiting Pinnacle Eco Clean in Rochester, NY
Visiting Woodard Rug Cleaning in St. Louis, MO
Visiting Oriental Rug Cleaning in Indianapolis, IN
Visiting Chet’s Cleaning in Detroit, MI
Equipment
At a certain point, it became apparent that to give the best cleaning results and to commit to scale into the future, Alan and Audrey would have to go “all in” on state-of-the-art rug washing equipment. They found a manufacturer in the country of Turkey and collaborated with the production of custom rug washing machines. At the end of 2022, they received a 40 foot container with a tumble duster, 1,000 gallon wash tub, a rinse wringer machine, a 14-foot centrifuge. They also purchased a strap duster, drying rack and drying room heater from other sources. It seemed like it was all coming together!
Vision Becomes Reality
Finally, the remodeling and the equipment installation was almost complete! Not to mention, the choosing of a business name, creating a logo, a website, setting up workflow systems, etc.! Toward the end of 2023, Alan and Audrey soft launched their rug washing services and began washing a few rugs each month for existing customers to ensure the process flowed smoothly. It was a success! After four years of hard work, now it was time to publicly launch the new division – Distinctive Rug Cleaning!
Why you can trust Distinctive Rug Cleaning to safely clean all fibers, types, and sizes of rugs.
Local & Family Owned – Distinctive Rug Cleaning is locally owned and operated by Alan & Audrey Falls. Your rugs are not subcontracted to another company. We clean all rugs at our local Fort Wayne facility. Our service is professional, friendly & convenient.
Education & Experience – Alan has been in the textile cleaning industry full time since 2000. He is an IICRC Certified Master Textile Cleaner and completed the WoolSafe Fiber Care Specialist Course. Alan & Audrey are Master Rug Cleaners. Distinctive Rug Cleaning is a member of the Association of Rug Care Specialists and an IICRC certified firm. We have traveled to study rug cleaning and tour other rug washing facilities in the USA and Turkey, bringing the best care practices back to Fort Wayne.
Cleaning Method & Specialized Equipment – We don’t take your rugs and steam clean them the same way we clean wall-to-wall carpet. Rugs are full immersion washed, so the front, back, inside and out will be thoroughly cleaned. Your rug is not sent through an automated machine where each rug is given generic treatment. Instead, we carefully inspect each rug prior to cleaning and then wash each rug individually, based on each rug’s specific needs. Our highly specialized facility and equipment assist us in each step to thoroughly clean your rug. Our professional cleaning solutions and techniques prevent problems and provide excellent results.
Reputation – Distinctive is recommended by local interior designers, flooring, furniture retailers and realtors. Don’t take our word for it! Read our online reviews on Google, Nextdoor, Facebook or Yelp.