With a proper maintenance you can preserve the beauty and value of your rug for many years. Here are some helpful area rug care tips and advice you can use to keep your rug in great shape.
Vacuuming
Frequent vacuuming your area rug at least once every week not only helps keep it clean, it also improves the air quality in your home. For proper area rug vacuuming, It is recommended that you get a vacuum that has a rotating beater bar and good suction. For hand-knotted rugs, a vacuum without a beater bar is recommended for vacuuming the surface, while a vacuum with a beater bar is recommended for vacuuming the back. For machine made rugs a vacuum with a beater bar will work just fine for either side, and for sisal, loop pile, shaggy, and flat weave rugs; they should be vacuumed with suction only vacuums.
Once a month it’s recommended that your rug receive a deep vacuuming to remove the sandpaper-like silt and sediment from deep in the rug fibers. This is accomplished by vacuuming the back of your area rug for several minutes up to a half hour using a vacuum with a rotating beater bar, then flipping the rug back over and vacuuming the top surface. Vacuuming the back of your rug first brings more sediment and silt to the surface of the rug where it can be vacuumed up easier. With this technique you can get more out of your rug than if you vacuumed the top surface alone.
Many new rugs have loose fibers and may shed. This is common and regular vacuuming can remedy the situation.
After vacuuming, some rugs woven with hand spun wool or over-spun wool, will tend to have shoots of fibers that pop up after vacuuming. These are nothing to worry about, and are easily remedied with a gentle clipping from a nice pair of sharp scissors.
Make sure you change your vacuum bags often to get the maximum amount of suction and pickup.
Vacuum damage
When vacuuming your area rug, it’s quite common that the fringes can become caught in the vacuum brushes. You can avoid this by placing the fringes under the rug before vacuuming or using a vacuum without a beater bar.
Cleaning
Once every 2 to 3 years your rug should be sent off to be thoroughly cleaned at an area rug cleaning plant facility. Note: Lighter shade rugs, rugs placed in hallways, kitchens, entryways or other high traffic areas of the home need to be cleaned more often, typically every 6 months to a year.
Uneven Wear
To minimize damage and wear from heavy traffic patterns, it’s recommend that you rotate your rugs every six months. By rotating your rugs you can double or even quadruple the life span of your rug.
To minimize dirt trafficking, consider a no shoes policy in your home or place doormats inside and outside your entryways.
Sun damage
The sun is a powerful force in the universe that can fade any color in your area rug over time, but the damage can be minimized if you rotate your rugs 180 degrees every 3 to 6 months. This ensures that one area of the rug will not fade faster than another. To avoid UV rays from fading the colors in your area rug you can also place your rug in a room that doesn’t receive a lot of direct sunlight or by closing window blinds when you’re away. Some look forward to having their rugs bathed in the sun rays. This can mellow or tone down the colors in the rug and give it pleasing patina.
Cat scratching
Has the cat found new interest in your rug? Train your cat to use vertical or horizontal scratching posts by placing them over the areas of the area rug that cat most likes to scratch. If there is excessive damage we can repair most rugs.
Dog chews
Has the dog taken a chomp out of your rug? There are many product on the market for helping deter your puppy from chewing your expensive rugs, but you can always give your puppy something better to chew on. If the problem persists, its better to put your rug up until the puppy is more mature. If there is excessive damage, give us a call.
Moth damage
Moths don’t actually cause damage to your rugs; it’s their offspring, the little larvae that use the rug fibers as food. Moths and their larvae thrive on rugs placed in dark areas -- especially in areas of the rug that are the dirtiest. If your rug is dirty and receives little traffic and vacuuming, it’s more likely that moths will find it irresistible. If furniture is placed on top of your rug, this can make a pleasant area for moths to multiply. Its best if you move heavy furniture off your rug and vacuum the rug often. When storing your rug use moth balls or cedar chips to deter moth growth. If the problem is out of hand, we can spray your rug with moth proofing chemicals.
Water damage
The most common type of water damage to area rugs is dry rot. This happens when a potted plant is placed onto the surface of the rug and the excess water from plant watering is allowed to leak into the rug’s foundation and remain there over a long period of time. The excessive wetness attracts certain fungi that feed off moisture and the cellulose in the rug fibers. The best solution to the problem is to remove the potted plant and get the rug dry as soon as possible. Dry rot repair is repairable but can be very expensive. Sometimes the cost of repairing a rug with dry rot can cost as much as the rug itself and all to often the remedy is to buy a new rug. A decision most would find disheartening to say the least. So for all matters, do not place potted plants on your area rug.
Other causes for area rug water damage include flooding. At our plant we can remove water damage and mildew caused by flooding.
Other helpful advice
Furniture can often damage an area rug. Replacing the glides under furniture every 2 to 3 years reduces wear and protects area rug surfaces.
Some rugs have guidelines attached to them written directly by the manufacture. Always read and follow the supplier’s guidelines and suggestions.
Never place rugs on damp or wet floors. This can cause a condition known as dry rot and can allow mildew to grow.
Make sure your furniture does not get wet. Some furniture pieces have metal glides that can rust when they become wet. This rust can then transfer to your rug surface and leave a rusty stain.