Your rug helps to put a room together and enhances the whole decor of the room but is also the target of dust, termites, pet hair and debris. For this reason, you may find it difficult to clean your rug, especially handmade rugs which are delicately made and hand woven.

Basic Rug Cleaning and Maintenance

The rug is the center of your home design and hence goes through a lot of wear and tear, and foot traffic. Overtime, it loses its shine, design and elegance. To maintain the look and beauty of your rug, you will need to clean it regularly so it could remain timeless. Regular maintenance and cleaning increases the longevity and beauty of your area rug. Below are the basic tips for regular rug maintenance.

• Vacuum your rug regularly on the front part and also on the underside once a week. The underneath of the rug collects the most dust and debris and is often the most neglected of all. Do not forget to vacuum the edges and corners of the rug as well.
• Sprinkle baking soda on the rug before vacuuming to remove the odors that are trapped in the rug. Baking soda removes all sorts of odors.
• Gently clean with a brush on the rug to remove hair balls and stubborn debris.
• Clean any liquid spills immediately to avoid staining the rugs. For tough stains, mix equal parts of water with vinegar and put some on the rug and leave it for 5 minutes, then blot with a clean washcloth and again wipe with a damp washcloth.

Thorough Rug Cleaning

After some time and years, basic maintenance cannot do any good for your rug and you will need to get a thorough cleaning done to your rug. The easiest option is to roll your rug, pack it and send to the professional rug cleaners. But if you do not want to spend a lot on professional cleaners, then you can do thorough cleaning at home.

Follow These Steps

1. If your rug has some instructions written, then act accordingly to clean your rug.
2. First you will need to shake out as much dust as you can from your rug.
3. After you have shaken out maximum dust, place your rug on a flat surface.
4. You will need to purchase a rug shampoo or you can even use a mild dish detergent.
5. Mix the rug shampoo in a mug according to the instructions written on the shampoo bottle. Or you can mix a mild detergent with warm or cold water. Never mix the detergent in hot water as hot water can cause fading of your rug and even cause shrinking. Mixing some baking soda in the detergent mix or rug shampoo can help to clean out the bad odors from your rug.
6. Before starting with the cleaning process, you should do a color test. Sometimes cleaning your rug may cause the colors to merge and bleed with each other which can completely destroy your rug. In order to be on the safe side, test your rug from the corner and see if the colors retain themselves. If the colors do not merge then you can proceed with the cleaning.
7. Take a soft washcloth or sponge and gently rub and lather the detergent on the rug. Make sure to lather well. Leave the detergent on the rug for 15 to 20 minutes.
8. After that rinse the rug with clean and cool water using buckets or a garden hose. Make sure to rinse out all the detergent and the water flowing is clear.
9. Extract out maximum water from the rug by leaving it on the clothesline or by using a wet dry vacuum.
10. Dry out the rug completely. Using blower fans can speed up the drying process. Do not dry it in direct sunlight as it can fade and damage the rugs.

Conclusion

Doing this process at least twice a year will retain the beauty of your rug and increase its longevity. However, for timeless and expensive rugs such as area oriental rugs Alexandria, you should choose professional cleaning as you cannot risk them getting damaged because they can be difficult to replace.