How to Look After Your Rug at Home

Unfortunately, rugs are not a self-sustaining investment. In order to keep them beautiful and elegant, they require a little work to keep them healthy and vibrant. There are several things for you to consider in order to extend a rug's life for as long as possible.

Maintenance At Home

To begin with, you should rotate your rugs on a set schedule. You'll want to even out the wear, so make sure it is rotated equally, especially if your rug is in a high traffic area where people are walking all the time. Also, too much sunlight on one spot can make the colour fade in one spot on your rug. Heaters and fireplaces can affect it too so ensure you rotate for this reason too.

Next, you'll want to vacuum regularly. Vacuums can help to lift off and extract the lighter dirt and dust that's stuck in your rug. This allows for a cleaner surface for you to enjoy in your home.

If your rug isn't a big thick shag then you should definitely use a power head vacuum in order to get as much dust out as possible. If it is a big shag then a power head will just get tangle in the vacuum

Remember when vacuuming that just because the vacuum went over the carpet doesn't mean that it is properly vacuumed. You should go as slowly as you can, giving the dirt time to be sucked up.

For spots and stains, try pouring a little water over the stain and blot it with a towel before resorting to any chemicals. Some of these chemicals can harm your rug if used incorrectly. This is best done as soon there has been a spill in order to suck up as much of it as possible. If you can leave a dry towel on the spill afterwards and place something heavy on it overnight you can get the best results.

Please be careful as dyes in the rug can bleed! It might be better to take it to be cleaned at this point

Taking Your Rug to the Professionals

Last step, and it is an important one. Make sure it gets the proper cleaning and maintenance it needs from a professional cleaner. Don't just get any old carpet cleaner either, a rug is a whole different kettle of fish compared to wall to wall carpet. Find someone with qualifications to clean rugs.

Professional cleaners can diagnose your rug's problems and work to fix them. They probably have expensive specialised machinery specifically for rug cleaning that allows them to properly clean your rug.

There is no substitute for a professional clean especially because it reduces the risk of damage or harm to your rug. You can be assured that a qualified rug cleaner won't just take it out to the driveway for a quick once over. They will choose the appropriate method for that specific rug, because different types of rugs need different processes.

Without professional cleaning, the life of your rug will be shortened no matter how much home maintenance you put in. Do both of these things though and you can extend the life of your rug by years.