There are many different ways to go about cleaning dirty area rugs, and it’s always crucial for rug owners to be extra careful when conducting DIY rug cleaning.
We all love our area rugs and value them as long-term investments, so taking proper care of your rugs is absolutely imperative for ensuring their overall durability. We’ve teamed up with the rug industry specialists over at Rug Source to develop this list of tips to help you clean your home’s rugs, so take it from the seasoned pros in that the following tips will guarantee a clean rug—even after unfortunate accidents!
What Supplies Are Needed For Cleaning Area Rugs?
Successful DIY rug cleanings require the following supplies and equipment (at the very least):
- Bucket
- Water
- Sponge or soft-bristle brush
- Rug shampoo (or mild dish soap)
- Wet-dry vacuum
- Rubber gloves
- Garden hose
Steps For A Deep Area Rug Clean
It’s first and foremost important to remember that every area rug is unique, which means that every rug will subsequently have specific cleaning guidelines that should be followed. You can more than likely read up on your rug manufacturer’s cleaning guidelines; however, this isn’t always possible for those who bought handmade area rugs from foreign artisans.
Below are some of the most important steps for cleaning area rugs of all types:
Step #1: Clearing Furniture & Room Objects Off The Area Rug
Not only should you take everything off of your area rug, but you should also consider taking it outside of your home at the beginning of your cleaning process. When you go outside, you can potentially hang up your rug and beat it with a broom or stick—just like rug owners have done for centuries.
This basic step can eliminate all sorts of built-up dust and dirt that has become stuck deep within the rug’s fibers. And if you don’t have any way to hang up your rug, you can also consider draping the rug over a large tarp to avoid any further mess.
Step #2: Removing Debris & Dirt
There are many different ways that you can effectively eliminate any dirt or other debris development on your area rug, and your vacuum cleaner will be your best friend for this stage of the cleaning process.
One tip that a lot of people forget about is that thorough rug cleaning requires you to vacuum both sides of your rug. A good rule to go by is making sure that every last bit of dust and debris is gone from your rug before going onto the next cleaning step.
Step #3: Mixing The Cleaner
It’s crucial that rug owners don’t use a carpet shampoo or cleaning product for their area rugs, because these products contain harsh chemicals that can actually damage the more fragile fibers found in rugs.
What you’ll need to purchase instead is a rug shampoo as your cleaning solution, and you’ll want to follow your shampoo’s specific instructions while mixing your solution with water.
It’s also ok to use mild dishwasher detergent and warm water as your cleaning solution when your rug is made of synthetic fibers; however, if your rug is made of wool or other natural fibers, then you’ll want to use cold water. Hot water can sometimes cause fading and shrinking on wool rugs, so it’s best to avoid it while doing this type of DIY rug cleaning.
Step #4: Do A Quick Color Run Test
Before you start doing any scrubbing with your cleaning solution, you should double-check to ensure that your cleaner doesn’t cause your rug’s colors or dyes to run.
What you’ll need to do is test the solution on a smaller area rug (or the corner of your dirty rug) and simply make sure that the scrubbing is colorfast. If you notice that colors aren’t bleeding, you’re safe to move on with the cleaning process.
Step #5: Washing Your Area Rug
This is the step where you’ll need your soft-bristle brush or sponge to help you thoroughly wash your area rug by lathering in your cleaning solution. Once you’ve scrubbed your rug, you’ll need to let the cleaning solution sit for at least five to ten minutes prior to any rinsing.
This waiting allows the cleaning process to be more comprehensive, so it’s always worth waiting!
Step #6: Rinsing The Rug
The next step of the DIY rug cleaning process is to rinse the soap out of your rug with buckets of water or your garden hose.
The trick with this step is to make sure that you’ve fully removed the cleaning solution, and you can do so by examining the runoff water and waiting until it’s perfectly clear.
Step #7: Removing Excess Water
The more water you can remove from your rug at this point in the cleaning process, the better. Doing a good job at removing excess water will allow your rug to dry a lot faster.
You can also consider using a wet-dry vacuum at this point, which will do a wonderful job at sucking up water that doesn’t come out with your rinsing.
Step #8: Rug Drying
The next step is to let your rug dry on its own, and you can do this by laying it flat and allowing the rug to air dry. Once the front side has dried up, you’ll then flip it over to allow the bottom side to dry out as well.
Fans are also a good tool to help you speed up the drying process.
Step #9: One Last Vacuuming
The last step of the DIY rug cleaning process is to run your vacuum over your newly dried rug. This helps to revitalize any fibers or threads that got squished or compacted during any of the above cleaning steps.
Contact Rug Source When You Need Help Cleaning Your Area Rugs!
There’s a lot that rug owners need to consider when they want to do a DIY cleaning, and the above steps will guide you down the right path to successfully cleaning and disinfecting your area rugs.
You can learn more rug cleaning tips by speaking directly with the industry specialists at Rug Source when you go to their website via the link located at the top of this page!