How To Clean A Rug

You’ve found the perfect rug. The colours complement your room, the texture feels great, the size is just right and you plan on keeping this rug for a very long time. Now that you’ve found it, how are you going to keep it clean and looking great? Follow these steps, and you can have a rug that lasts for ages.

1. Vacuum Your Rug Regularly

Just like you would do to your own carpet, make sure to vacuum your rug on a regular basis with a suction vacuum about every one week or two weeks. Be careful not to vacuum the tassels as they can be pulled and fringe. Every month, flip your rug over and vacuum that side too, and loose dirt should be cleared from your carpet in the process. A vacuum or soft bristled brush can also help loosen fibres that might have settled or compacted.

2. Rotate Your Rug

If your rug is underneath a table or chairs, be sure to rotate it every so often. Doing so evens out wear and tear and should be done at least once a year. If you do so, traffic and sun fading damage will be evenly distributed throughout your rug, rather than being concentrated in one area. Also, make sure to do this if furniture is on top of your rug. Consider moving that furniture to avoid impressions or uneven fading on that rug.

3. Spot Clean Your Rug

Unlike the above two steps, spot cleaning it uses a chemical treatment to ensure those pesky spots are gone. There are a few different formulas you can make to spot treat your rug and they all work great. Here are two common messes that can be taken care of with spot treatments:

Food/Drinks

First remove as much of the food or drink as you can with a paper towel, spoon, and/or a clean cloth. Once you have done that, rinse the stain with cold water, and then after the rinse blot dry and sponge with rug shampoo. When sponging, do not use a stiff brush and use cool water to finish. Let dry thoroughly.

Pet Stains

Food/drink stains and urine stains could be cleaned out with a cup of white vinegar per gallon to the rinse water. For faeces and throw up stains, you can scrape the material, and then sponge the area with a rug shampoo or the same white vinegar solution mentioned earlier. You can also find several specialised cleaning products for this kind of cleaning issue that you can try after testing it on a small area of the carpet to make sure it won’t run.

4. Hire a Professional

It can be that simple. Sometimes, personal care just isn’t enough. This is certainly true when you can rub your finger vigorously in the rug for ten seconds and see dirt on your finger, or when you can see the warp and weft look dirty when you pull the pile apart and look at the foundations. This is when you should look to one of these fine professionals to clean your rug for you.

 Rug Home has put together its own list of who we trust when it comes to cleaning a rug professionally. 

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