July 20, 2021

Caring for Your Luxury Rug - What You Need to Know

As expensive as luxury rugs are, one cannot simply expect such beauty and magnificence to last without proper care and maintenance. Investing in luxury pieces such as Persian or Moroccan rugs demand more than just the initial cash payments.

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Buyers Insight

Luxury rugs are often expensive, beautiful, and magnificent. They warm up the floors, add décor and great patterns into your home.

However, the care and maintenance your rug receive ultimately determine how much longer it'll last.

Buying luxury area rugs like Moroccan or Persian rugs requires a lot than just the first cash payments. These art pieces demand a specific cleaning routine to keep them looking new and luxurious.

That's the only way you can improve their lifespan, boost air quality in your home, and retain carpet warranties.

Rug care and general cleaning of your rug is fairly intuitive, as you can imagine. All you need is little knowledge on selecting the right cleaning products. And follow the proper procedures to clean and care for your rug.

What you need to know

Proper care and maintenance of your piece start the moment the rug reaches your doorstep after purchase. You’ll need to make critical decisions to preserve the rug's quality, value, and actual condition.

Here’s what you should know:

Rug placement

The way you place the rug in your home plays a vital role in enhancing and preserving its quality. Typically, rugs with natural origins are incredibly durable and hard to wear out.

They can withstand natural wear and tear, but when dirt soaks up in them, everything changes. Therefore, place the rugs in spaces with low foot movement.

Besides that, ensure that you don’t expose the rug to direct sunlight. If you can’t avoid it, turn the rug upside down as you can.

The thing is, exposing your luxury rug to direct sunlight can fade the colors and generally affect its condition.

Regular rug upkeep and maintenance

Placing the rug on your space exposes it to spills, dust, grime, and all other sorts of dirt. The best way to handle such dirt is to avoid them from occurring.

But, of course, having proper and regular maintenance of your rugs offers a great way to keep their glamorous look and coziness.

The whole process involves the following activities:

Regular vacuuming

When you purchase a luxury rug, it's also wise and worth investing in the best quality vacuum. In most cases, vacuuming may not be the best form of care for your rug.

But, it'll help avoid or reduce future problems like dust, allergies, and shedding accumulation.

Vacuum the rug at least once every week as it can be helpful in many different ways. Consider vacuuming high movement areas more frequently, about two times a day. The vacuuming frequency will depend on the use.

Moreover, ensure you vacuum both the top and underneath sides of the rug using a regular vacuum head. However, don’t rotate the vacuum heads as this could cause severe damages to your rug.

Rotating rugs to wear them out evenly

Rugs will not always wear out evenly. You’ll find some parts getting more movement than others, especially if it’s extending under a piece of furniture.

Another reason could be that the window layout allows sunlight to hit more one part of the rug than another. This often leads to relatively faded spots.

To avoid such problems, rotate your rugs at least every six months to ensure uniform wear.

Keep a rug cleaner close by

Most stains are super easy to clean if you act instantly. Therefore, having a good-quality rug cleaner nearby can be pretty beneficial.

Go for only a reliable and effective all-purpose cleaner that can help you deal with the most common stains and spills.

Carefully cleaning different types of high-end rugs

Different types of rugs require different cleaning approaches. This usually varies depending on the style and material of the rug you want to clean.

Before you assemble your rug cleaning products and tools, it's essential to ensure you're going to do it the right way. Knowing how to clean your rug properly can help you save time and money.

Learn how to clean certain types of rugs using the following guide:

Oriental rugs

An Oriental rug is among the most elegant types of rugs available on the market. They exist in numerous stunning sizes, styles, colors, and patterns. These rugs help to protect your floor and add some pleasing warmth to your room.

However, these rugs boast vastly delicate fibers woven in a tricky way. This makes them quite delicate, meaning that they can be easily damaged. That's something you'll never wish to happen.

Here's how to properly care for your oriental rug:

•    Vacuum the rug regularly to remove dust and grime accumulation.

•    Please don't use your vacuum's brush feature as it can pull the rug's fiber easily to cause damage.

•    Ensure you vacuum towards the pile and rotate the carpet.

•    Spot stains on the rug and cleans them out of the fabric.

Cleaning Process

•    Always wash the rug on a warm day to ensure it quickly dries out.

•    Get your rugs outdoor and water them down. Ensure the rug is entirely wet.

•    Use a suitable cleaner for delicate fabrics to clean and massage the rug. Don’t use rough brushes or harmful chemicals like ammonia on your delicate oriental rug.

•    Wash the front and back parts of the rug, rinse it well, and allow it to dry.

•    Once the rug dries, vacuum it again and return it to your space.

Wool rugs

Wool is an incredibly popular fabric used in making rugs as well as oriental rugs. Wool rugs are super durable. Additionally, they are available in an array of amazing colors and patterns to suit any décor.

While they are quite tough and rugged, wool rugs are still destructible. Like most rugs, they can easily get damaged while cleaning. That’s because working on them roughly could easily pull the fibers on the rugs.

Here’s how to clean your wool rug:

Start by vacuuming both sides of the rug to remove dust and any grit. Do so more often, even but not only when you want to wash it.

Also, remember to vacuum side by side, not lengthways. This helps avoid pulling out the fibers from the rug.

Always remove spills and stains on your rug immediately. This prevents the stains from seeping deep into the wool, which would otherwise be permanent and impossible to remove.

Then, take the rug outdoor and give it a beat to remove any retained dirt after vacuuming.

Lay your wool rug flat on the surface and wet it using a hose.

Apply wool-friendly cleaning product to the rug. Use a mop or sponge to wash it well.

Once you completely clean the rug, rinse the fabric well and roll the rug in one or two clean towels. Then squeeze to remove the remaining water.

Place the rug under the shade to allow it to dry out completely. Never dry the wool rug in direct sunlight as the colors would fade out and even damage the fiber’s durability.

Remember to deep clean your wool rugs at least once every year.

Polypropylene rugs

Polypropylene rugs are vibrant and durable. They consist of synthetic material which protects the floor and withstand great pressure of lots of foot movement and heavy loads. However, they are easy to clean.

These rugs are ideal for use with all kinds of chemicals, thanks to their rigid nature. They’ll also retain their color and texture while cleaning.

Here’s how to clean your polypropylene rugs:

•    Ensure the surface from which you'll be washing the rug is clean. Preferably, use brick or concrete surfaces.

•    Brush over it using a broom or vacuum cleaner to remove dust and grime.

•    Apply some liquid detergent or soap and use a sponge and brush for stain removal.

•    Once the rug is clean, allow it to dry by air or in the sun. Unlike other rug materials, polypropylene rugs don't get damaged by sunlight. However, don't leave the rug in the sun for an extended time.

Jute rugs

Jute rugs should be vacuumed regularly to keep them looking beautiful. Use a powerful vacuum to clean an area several times, following different directions.

For a thorough dry cleaning process, be sure to visit your suitable cleaning company. It would be best never to use steam or wet shampoo to clean your jute rugs, as this would cause severe damage.

Moroccan

These are other incredibly beautiful and most fancy rugs you can find on the market. They come in many styles, patterns, colors, and designs to suit different needs.

Besides, their crafting process is often tricky, which results in robust rugs that can last long.

Moroccan rugs are easy to clean than you may think. All you need to do is to understand the type of Moroccan rug you have.

•    Always clean spots and stains right away using paper towels, baking soda, or a mix of baking soda and vinegar if the stain is tougher.

•    When deep cleaning your Moroccan rug, shake out and vacuum to remove dirt. Do this back and forth at a slower pace for efficiency.

•    Lay your rug on a flat surface and run water over until it gets wet.

•    Use a scrub brush and gentle soap to clean the rug and rinse it.

•    Once the rug is clean, hung it outdoor for drying.

Shag

As for shaggy rugs, a gentler cleaning approach is vital. That’s due to their soft nature. Their higher pile of fabrics increases the chances of pulling out the rug's pieces and damage a portion.

A regular beating is ideal for the rug’s upkeep. When it comes to cleaning, follow similar procedures as with fabric materials.

Use soft detergent to wash it. Rinse the rug well and squeeze all the water out before letting it dry. Also, remember to wash at the backside.

How long does it take to truly clean a rug?

Cleaning your rugs can sometimes be tricky and unpleasant. Yet, it’s essential for enhancing your home’s or office’s environment.

Carpets and rugs often absorb odors, smoke, debris, and liquids faster. Certainly, they don’t let them go easily.

Having your rugs cleaned by a professional is an excellent option. It could save you great time and effort for doing so.

For a rug to be cleaned thoroughly, how much time will it take? Well, it takes 30 minutes on average to clean a single room rug coverage.

The cleaning process may take up to 80 minutes, depending on the type and complexity of the materials used to make the rugs.

Besides that, many other factors may determine how long it’ll take to clean your rugs. Such factors include:

•    Rug size

•    Condition of the rug

•    Type of rug cleaning method used

Common rug cleaning mistakes

Nothing is so annoying than cleaning a stain only to find it reappear the next day again. Or, instead of cleaning your rug, you end up damaging its beauty and look.

Such are clear signs that you didn't follow the proper cleaning process. The following are some of the common rug cleaning mistakes you should be careful to get better results:

•   Scrubbing the rug stain vigorously. This forces the stains o seep deep into the rug's fibers. It also causes the fibers to untwisting them, making them fray. Try blotting if you have to next time.

•   Failure to remove stains fast enough. Once the stain dries, it becomes very hard and time-wasting to remove it.

•   Using incorrect cleaning products which causes more damage to the rug.

•   Not running a test to determine the action of a new cleaning solution.

•   Improper use of deodorizing powder which tends to be strong to remove.

•   Using a lot of chemicals to clean the rug, damaging the rug.

•   Lack of professional cleaning services. This affects the durability of your rugs.

•   Using faulty rug cleaning equipment, which tends to damage the rugs.

Rug cleaning costs may vary depending on the method of professional rug cleaning you choose. Be sure to do your research and find a company that offers a better deal

Professional services 

Although the responsibility of caring for such a fine piece of art falls upon the shoulders of the owner, there’s nothing quite like the touch of professional rug care services. The aforementioned practices do the trick of daily maintenance but it certainly doesn’t meet the capability of professional cleaning.

Avail of the services of professional cleaners at least once a year to subject your rug to thorough cleaning. For rugs subjected to much heavier traffic such as constant contact with pets and substances, opt to have your rug professionally cleaned more often.

The same rule applies to spills and stains. After the initial damage control using paper towels to reduce the spread of spills and stains, leave the cleaning to professionals. Self-treatment with chemicals and other substances will do more harm than good.



David Nourafshan

Passionate reader | People person | The one behind Lawrence of La Brea
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