How To Keep a Rug Clean
The saying “prevention is better than cure” is never truer than when applied to looking after your rugs. Regularly hoovering and hanging up your rug will help keep them free of dust, hair and dirt will go a long way to keeping them clean. Ensure you check the care label on the back of your rug first for hoover advice specific to your rug. If you can, you should do the following at least once a week:
- Take your rug outside and shake the dust and debris out. If your rug is small enough to carry, take it outside and shake the dust out. If you’ve got the time (and the weather permits!) leaving it outside for a couple of hours can air it out and reduce smells.
- Vacuum the rug. For short pile rugs, or those that are too big to carry outside, your vacuum cleaner’s upholstery attachment can do most of the work. If the care label on the back of rug advises hoovering, try to vacuum your rug at least once a week. Hint: To keep the pile in good condition on shaggy, fluffy or wool rugs, it’s very important to either use the upholstery attachment, or turn the rollers and beater bar off. It’s very easy for the longer fibres to get caught in the vacuum’s moving parts.
For rugs suitable for vacuuming, begin vacuuming from the middle outwards to ensure you push the dust and dirt to the edge. You may have to do this a couple of times. Once you’re done, flip the rug over and suck up the remaining dust on the other side. If you can do this while it’s hung up, even better!
- Use a carpet or rug friendly fabric spray. To keep your rug smelling fresh, apply some fabric spray periodically and allow it to dry. Before applying always test a small area first to minimise the chance of colour change.
- Rotate your rug. Natural patterns of traffic in your home can mean that certain parts of a rug will wear and accumulate dirt faster than others. Rotating your rug every couple of weeks will mitigate this and helps ensure each side fades evenly.
SHOP RUGS