Area rugs and carpets are well known for being dirt and dust magnets, trapping all of this debris in it’s thousands of fibers. Over time, the accumulation of dirt , dust and other debris in an area rug will make it look old and faded, resulting in the need to give the rug a thorough cleaning, which can be both time consuming and costly if taken to a professional rug cleaner.
To reduce the amount of times you need to thoroughly clean your area rugs, follow these proven rug care tips. These tips do require regular maintenance of the rug but they will help keep your rug in great shape and consequently will improve the air quality in your home.
Minimize Dirt & Debris In Your Home
The most obvious way to reduce the amount of debris that gets trapped in your rug is to eliminate as many sources of dirt and debris in your home. There are several ways you can do this including:
- placing floor mats at every entrance of the home – by doing this, most dirt from outside of the home will be trapped in the floor mats which are much cheaper and easier to clean than an area rug.
- practice a no shoes rule in the house – make it a rule in your home that shoes are not to be worn inside. This will significantly reduce the amount of dirt that makes it’s way into your house by leaving dirty shoes at the door, or on your floor mats.
- regularly sweep the floor around your area rugs – no matter how many measures you take to reduce dirt from entering your home, there will always be some that makes it’s way in. By regularly sweeping the floor around your area rugs you can at least reduce the amount of this dirt that gets trapped in the rug which is much more difficult to clean than simply sweeping a floor.
Remove Pet Hairs From Your Rug
Anyone who has a cat or dog should be well aware of how easily their hairs get trapped in a rug. By allowing pet hairs to build up on a rug, the rug will begin to look dirty but luckily can be easily removed with some proven methods. If keeping your pets off the rugs in your home is not an option, try these proven methods to remove their hairs from your area rug:
- use sellotape to remove pet hairs – wrap sellotape around your hand with the sticky part facing outward and begin to pass your hand across your rug, applying slight pressure as you do so. The adhesive from the tape should pull pet hairs right out of your rug making it look clean again.
- use a damp sponge or cloth – by passing a damp cloth or sponge across your rug with a little bit of pressure, the pet hairs will begin to adhere to the wet surface and remove themselves from the rug. Once you complete passing the damp sponge or cloth over the entire rug, you may need to remove some hairs by hand but this should be easy since they will be elevated above the rugs fibers.
Vacuum Your Rug Regularly
Even by practicing the tips listed above, some dirt and debris will still accumulate on your rug over time. To ensure that this debris does not accumulate too much, making the rug look faded, you should vacuum your rug regularly. The amount of times you should vacuum the rug will depend on whether the rug is placed in a high traffic area of the home or an area that is rarely used.
For high traffic areas, try to lightly vacuum your rug at least 4 or 5 times per week so that the debris does not get trapped deeply into your rug. For areas with less traffic, 1 to 3 vacuums per week should suffice.
For optimal results, use a vacuum with a beater bar or an upright vacuum and regularly check the suction tubes to ensure that there is enough power to remove debris that is lodged deep inside your rugs.
Remove Dust From Your Rug
Even though it may be tough to see dust accumulate inside your rug at first, it does accumulate deep into a rugs fibers, becoming airborne when people or pets walk on it. This will cause poor air quality inside your home, potentially causing allergies to some of your family members and friends. To avoid this from happening, follow these tips for effectively removing dust from your area rug:
- carefully take your rug outdoors, trying not to shake it too much on the way out as this will release dust into your home
- once outside, you can use one of the following methods for removing dust from your rug:
- for small rugs, shake the rug vigorously for about 30 seconds to a minute. You can even try smacking it against an exterior wall of your home a few times if shaking it doesn’t suffice.
- for larger rugs, hang the rug in an open space making sure that there are no folds in the rug (hanging it over a fence works great for this). Using a rug beater bar, or any other long stiff object, repeatedly hit the rug with the same force you would use in chopping a piece of wood. Make sure to strike the rug in several different spots to get as much dust out as possible. You can also use this method for small rugs.
Dust will accumulate on your rug over time no matter what you do. To make sure this accumulation is kept to a minimum, beat the dust out of it at least once a month using the methods described above.