by Vanessa Murray
You’ve found the perfect rug. Maybe you picked it up from an estate sale and want to clean it before bringing it home. Maybe it’s new and you simply want to keep it clean in a house with pets, kids, red wine, you name it! Here are 7 tips to keeping your rug clean and in good condition.
- Take off your shoes when you come in from the outside. You don’t want to track unnecessary dirt on your rug. It’s not the same thing as your utility doormat.
- Don’t put plants directly on your rug. House plants are great decor items and really add to the health and beauty of your home, but the moisture and condensation from plant care can rot the rug underneath.
- Making sure you have a good pad when you purchase your rug may be the single most important step you can take to increase longevity and improve wear. Did you know we sell rug pads cut-to-size with online rug purchases?
- Vacuum your larger rugs on a higher settings and, if you can, turn off your vacuum’s beater bar. Today’s vacuums have enough suction to do the job and beater bars can cause twisted yarn to sprout and can be hard on the edges and fringe.
- Take smaller rugs outside and beat them from the back with a good, old fashioned rug beater (or broom/tennis racket). That will get a ton of dust out!
- Rotate your rug! Rugs that are in heavy traffic patterns or are exposed to a lot of sunlight can really benefit from being rotated 180 degrees annually.
- Have your rugs cleaned professionally every 1 to 3 years depending on traffic. Our Click-to-Clean service offers flat rate pricing on rugs from anywhere in the country, and shipping is free! In home cleaning systems (surface cleaning) can be a stop gap, but having them thoroughly washed and rinsed is the best way to remove the dirt that has built up over time.