Rugs can be beautiful additions to your home, but they can be expensive and sometimes delicate. It’s important to know how to clean and maintain them to protect your investment. This section on rug cleaning has some of the most important information for any rug owner. By following our tips, you can keep your rugs looking new for as long as possible.

If you plan to shampoo your carpet, you should pre-test a small area first to avoid any unpleasant surprises. Improper cleaning can ruin your rug! There are a few very common mistakes that people make when it comes to cleaning area rugs. These mistakes can end up subtracting years from the life of your rugs, and they should be avoided at all costs.

Common Mistakes:

•Don’t beat your rugs! Your mom might have taken her rugs out back, hung them on a clothesline, and beaten them with a baseball bat, but you shouldn’t. The only rugs you should shake or beat are inexpensive doormats. When you beat rugs, you can cause the woven threads to loosen, and you can damage the backing of the rug. Some rugs will separate from their backing after only one beating if they are poorly made. Don’t take the chance.

•Don’t vacuum fringe! If you run the vacuum over fringe when you are vacuuming your rug, you will suck the fringe up into the beater bar of your vacuum. At the very least, you will damage the fringe. It starts to loosen and look like a curly, stringy mess. Even worse, you could pull out chunks of fringe. The threads can get caught in your vacuum and you’ll have to unwind them from the beater bar. You can end up damaging your rug and your vacuum!

•Don’t use carpet shampoos or sprays! Carpet shampoos usually end up attracting more dirt, and carpet shampooing machines (especially ones with several brushes) can do damage to your area rugs. Drenching your area rug with water is never a good idea. It can ruin the rug and the floor underneath. Carpet stain sprays can discolor area rugs. It’s best to have your area rug professionally cleaned and only spot clean when necessary with a gentle stain solution.

Things You Should Do:

To keep your rugs clean, vacuum often. Weekly vacuuming on both sides would be ideal. If that’s not possible, you should do it at least once every two weeks.

It is recommended that you rotate your rugs at least once a year. This means turning the rug end for end or 180 degrees. This helps the rug to wear more evenly.

Rugs should be rolled, not folded. When transported in a moving van, a rolled rug should be placed on top of furniture and then have nothing heavier than a lampshade placed on top of the rug. If a rug ends up with a crease, it will soon disappear when the rug is laid flat and the rug is walked on.

Anyone who owns a carpet knows that it gets dirty. For a really thorough clean that gets rid of stains, spills and mud, you'll need a good steam cleaning rug carpet cleaners. There are professional companies that offer this service, and they are able to come into your home and do a very complete job of steaming your carpet clean. Another way that you can clean your carpet is by purchasing a rug cleaner. This type of cleaner will do a fairly good job of cleaning your carpet superficially, but because they don't have the ability to actually steam the fibers, not all of the stains and dirt will be removed.

Many rugs are treated to be stain resistant which delays the stain setting in, giving you a chance to act. The key is to treat the stain or spill quickly before it is absorbed by the rug and dries.

Hopefully, this information will help rug owners to preserve their precious carpeting in a good condition.