How To Clean An Area Rug

Eventually, vacuuming alone won’t cut it for keeping your area rug clean. As stains accumulate, and dirt and dust mites become deep-rooted into the carpet, you will need to deep clean your area rug to avoid permanent damage. Typically, this is best handled by professional carpet cleaners without the experience and equipment necessary to get the job done right. However, you can handle this on your own in some cases. Here is what you need to do to clean an area rug.

Vacuum Both Sides Of The Rug

To begin the area rug cleaning process, start by thoroughly vacuuming each side of the rug. Go over the rug multiple times on each side. You may also need to adjust the height of the vacuum to the ideal setting for your rug. If the height is set too high it won’t get enough dirt and grime out of the rug. Too low, however, and the rug can damage the fibers in the rug.

Test Out Carpet Shampoos

After vacuuming the rug, the next step is to wash and shampoo it. If you haven’t shampooed your rug before, you first need to figure out what type of shampoo to use. Begin testing out which shampoo to use by testing different shampoos on a small, innocuous corner of the rug. Then, check to see if the shampoo caused any discoloration or fiber damage before continuing. If not, then you are safe to go ahead with using that specific type of shampoo on your area rug.

Wash And Apply Shampoo

For washing the rug, you can simply hose it down with a garden hose. Don’t worry about getting it too wet as it will need to get nice and soaked before applying the shampoo. Then, using a sturdy brush with a stout handle, work the shampoo deep into the carpet fiber. This will require a lot of scrubbing and will be a good workout.

Rinse

Finally, leave the shampoo on the rug for as long as the instructions instruct. Then hose the rug down once again to get all the shampoo out.

Dry

Drying out the rug will take some time, but you will want to make sure it is completely dry before you begin using it again. Walking on a wet rug will cause the rug to soak up more dirt and grime. Before hanging the rug out to dry, you can speed up the drying process by thoroughly wringing out the rug. If you have a squeegee on hand, you can use this to squeeze extra moisture out of your rug. When hanging the rug out to dry, you may want to consider hanging it up inside, like in a laundry room, rather than outside, where it can get dirty again.

Water Damage Restoration– Troy, Michigan

We hope you find these tips helpful for keeping your area rug clean. Nonetheless, for the professional help you may need, don’t hesitate to call us at On-Site Specialty Cleaning & Restoration for our rug cleaning services.