An easy way to start is by having your family and guests remove their outdoor shoes before walking across your area rug. This will minimize the amount of dirt that accumulates on it. Dirt particles can damage rug fibers, less dirt means less damage.
For most of our area rugs, a daily to weekly vacuuming will keep them feeling and looking fresh. If your rug is in an area with light to medium traffic, a twice-weekly vacuuming will be fine. However, for rugs in heavy-traffic areas, a quick daily vacuuming is recommended.
Other preventative maintenance tips include: placing carpet protectors under furniture legs, reducing the area rug’s exposure to direct sunlight, and limiting the amount of (heavy) furniture you move around.
For shag area rugs, it’s very important to protect the cable yarn when vacuuming. Not only can long yarns from the area rug wrap around your vacuum’s beater bar, also known as a rotator brush, but the brush itself can damage your rug’s fibers.
To prevent such damage, before vacuuming, consult your vacuum manual to see about disconnecting the beater bar. Once it’s disconnected, set your vacuum to the lowest height setting, which provides the best suction.
You may also want to consider buying a carpet rake to loosen any soil before vacuuming.
We also recommend that on occasion throughout the year, you either arrange for a professional rug cleaning (especially one using the hot water extraction method) or that you shampoo your area rug yourself.
Just be sure to consult – and follow – the manufacturer’s cleaning guidelines beforehand to ensure maximum effectiveness and a beautiful end result. An additional cleaning tip worth noting is to never dry clean your area rugs or use bleach on them.
Consider making periodic cleaning of your area rug a part of your annual spring and summer cleaning routine.
No matter how careful you are, and how much you stick to your care and maintenance routine, your area rug will still most likely fall victim to the occasional spill, dirt, or mess over time, especially if you have kids or pets.
Many of our area rugs are sold with stain-resistant technology built into the fibers, just like with Shaw Floors carpet with R2X Stain and Soil Protection. This makes cleaning common household stains a cinch!
Your first instinct when it comes to common household spills, stains, or soils on your area rug, like spilled juice, soda, wine, or pet accidents, is to immediately start cleaning up the mess. However, we first recommend considering whether it’s an oil-based stain or a water-based stain and then consulting our common stain removal guide.
Below is a list of additional care and maintenance tips and stain removal resources to help keep your area rugs looking stunning.
