At Christian Brothers Flooring & Interiors, we recommend regular care and maintenance to keep your area rug looking and feeling its very best. Even if you don’t have a lot of spare time, you can easily incorporate these simple tasks into your regular cleaning routine to help your rug retain its beauty over the long term!
Where to start
Start by investing in doormats and placing them throughout your home. Have friends and family members use them when entering your home. You should also ask visitors to remove outdoor shoes before walking across your rug. It’s important to minimize the amount of dirt tracked onto your flooring, as dirt particles can damage rug and carpet fibers. Here are some other simple preventative maintenance tips:
- Place carpet protectors underneath all furniture legs
- Move or rotate rugs occasionally to reduce exposure to direct UV sunlight
- Take care when moving heavy furniture
Regular care
While keeping preventative maintenance in mind, you should also develop a regular care routine. This should include regularly vacuuming your area rug using a manufacturer-approved appliance. If your area rug experiences light to medium traffic, vacuuming it once or twice a week should be sufficient. If it experiences heavy traffic, however, you may want to vacuum more frequently.
Cleaning shag rugs
When vacuuming shag area rugs, be careful! Long yarns from shag area rugs can get caught up in your vacuum’s beater bar (or rotator brush) and the beater bar itself can be too harsh on your rug’s fibers. To prevent damage, consult your vacuum’s manual on properly removing the beater bar before vacuuming. Once it’s disconnected, set your vacuum to the lowest available height setting for the best suction. You may also want to consider buying a carpet rake to loosen any soil before vacuuming.
Professional cleanings
We also recommend that you have your carpet cleaned professionally throughout the year using the hot water extraction method. An alternative is to shampoo your rug yourself, although you should make sure you follow your manufacturer’s cleaning guidelines. Consider a professional cleaning at least once or twice a year.
Note: You should never dry clean your area rugs or use bleach to clean them.
Dealing with spills and stains
No matter how careful you are, your area rug will likely fall victim to a spill or mess of some sort–especially if you have children or pets. If this happens, don’t panic! Many of our area rugs are sold with stain-resistant technology built right into their fibers, making it easy to clean common household messes. Still, it’s important to address spills the right way.
First, determine if a spill is water- or oil-based. You can use a clean cloth to absorb some; others will require a more comprehensive approach. For these, you’ll want to take a look at our common stain removal guide below.
Additional resources
Here is a handy list of additional resources regarding proper area rug care and maintenance.
