A regular cleaning & maintenance routine for your area rugs is the best way to ensure that they retain their beauty over the long term. Even if you don’t have a lot of spare time, there are some quick & easy tasks you can perform that will do wonders to protect the look and lifespan of your rugs. At Metro Flooring & Design, we believe that preventative maintenance goes a long way to keep your rugs looking and performing like new for many years.
Where to start
A great place to start your routine is where family and guests enter your home. Have them remove their outdoor shoes before walking across your rug. This will minimize the amount of dirt that accumulates on it. Dirt particles can damage rug fibers, so less dirt means less damage.
For most of the area rugs available in our Rugs.Shop, a weekly vacuuming with a manufacturer-approved appliance will suffice. If you’ve placed your rug in an area with light to medium traffic, twice-weekly vacuuming works well. For rugs in areas with heavier foot traffic, you may want to do a quick daily vacuuming.
Some other preventative maintenance tips:
- Place carpet protectors underneath all furniture legs
- Move or rotate rugs occasionally to reduce exposure to direct UV sunlight
- Limit the amount of heavy furniture being moved regularly
Find more vacuuming tips HERE.
Cleaning shag rugs
For shag area rugs, it’s very important to protect the long, cable-like yarns when vacuuming. Not only can long yarns from the rug wrap around your vacuum’s beater bar (also known as a rotator brush), but the brush itself can damage your rug’s fibers. To prevent such damage, consult your vacuum manual to see about disconnecting the beater bar before vacuuming. Once it’s disconnected, set your vacuum to the lowest height setting, which provides the best suction. You may also want to consider buying a carpet rake to loosen any soil before vacuuming.
Professional Cleaning
We recommend that you have your rug cleaned professionally throughout the year using the hot water extraction method. An alternative is to shampoo your rug yourself – but be cognizant of your manufacturer cleaning guidelines or warranties, if applicable! Consider making periodic cleaning of your area rug a part of your annual spring and summer cleaning routines.
Note: You should never dry clean your area rugs or use bleach to clean them.
Stain Removal
No matter how careful you are, and how much you stick to your care and maintenance routine, your area rug will still most likely fall victim to the occasional spill, dirt or mess over time, especially if you have kids or pets. Many of our area rugs are sold with stain-resistant technology built into the fibers, making cleaning common household stains a cinch!
Your first instinct when it comes to common household spills, stains or soils on your area rug, like spilled juice, soda, wine, bloodstains or pet accidents, may be to immediately start cleaning up the mess. However, we recommend that you first establish whether it’s an oil-based or a water-based stain, and then consult our common stain removal guides in the additional resources below. Some messes will just wipe away with a cleaning cloth and others will require more steps.
Additional resources
Below is a list of additional care and maintenance tips & stain removal resources to help keep your area rugs looking stunning:
