For a lot of people, rugs are an indication of sophistication, design, and cleanliness. As simple as they are, they help set the mood of our homes. Rugs also provide us a comfortable place to sit and play games, watch movies, and even sleep on. For our rugs to last for a long time and be used in so many ways, we must know how to wash our rugs at home.
You may think that simply vacuuming the rugs is enough to keep it clean, but you actually need to deep-clean the rug every once in a while to keep germs and bacteria away from your home and from your family.
Does your area rug look like it could use some deep cleaning? In this article, you will learn how to clean your rug at home effectively.
1. Clean in Sunny Weather and Set Up an Outdoor Cleaning Station
Before starting to wash your rugs, you must take everything into consideration. From the weather to the outdoor setup. The best time to wash your rug is during the summer so that your rugs and carpets will dry easily.
In setting up your outdoor station, you must build a strong support system, one that can hold the weight of heavy, wet rugs. What you can do is stretch bungee cords or ropes between two trees, tie them up, and create your sturdy homemade clothesline. If you don’t have any rope or tree in your backyard, you can use a bench or your walls.
2. Vacuum the Rug Thoroughly
Before learning how to wash your carpet rug, you must know everything you need to do in preparation. You will want to vacuum both sides of your rug thoroughly before proceeding. When you finish vacuuming, you can simply roll the rug up and take it outside to clean. Lay it gently on your cleaning station with one side directly facing you. Beat it with wood to release all the excess dirt and dust. This will help you wash the rug more effectively and not mix all the dust in the water and solution.
3. Mix Your Cleaner
The best way to clean a rug is to make your own solution or mix it with some other ingredients. You can use an actual cleaning solution or a rug shampoo. If you choose a particular solution, make sure to follow the directions that came with the product. If you do not have a rug shampoo, you can mix a dish soap with warm water. Keep in mind that you need to use warm water and not hot water because it can shrink your rug and even cause the colors to fade.
4. Wash the Rug
Once you have your rug shampoo ready, you can use your garden hose and spray off all the excess dirt on your rug before applying the solution. Don’t worry about getting the rug too wet, because you need to prepare it for better shampoo application. Once you have rinsed all parts of the rug, find a sturdy brush to apply the shampoo to every fiber of the carpet. You will have to spend some time scrubbing the carpet to make sure it is cleaned deeply.
5. Rinse it Thoroughly
After brushing and scrubbing your rug thoroughly, rinse all the soap or shampoo by using a garden hose. Rinse the rug thoroughly and make sure that all the soap and bubbles are washed out. The best way to make sure that you have successfully washed out all the soap is to continue rinsing until you can see the runoff water is clear.
6. Remove Excess Water
After rinsing your rug, you will want to get rid of all of the excess water in the rug. The best way you can do this is by using a squeegee. This tool can squeeze out all of the excess water out of your rug easily. You can also use a wet-dry vacuum to do the job for you.
7. Hang the Rug to Dry
After making sure that your rug is clean and has no excess water, you can hang it on the clothesline you made and leave it to dry before taking it back inside. If you want a more protected drying process, you can hang the rug in your laundry room or garage.
Once your rug is fully dry, you can take it down for the last step.
8. Vacuum the Rug to Get Rid of Threads and Fibers
The last step of the cleaning process is to vacuum or brush your dry rug to get rid of all the excess fibers from your carpet. Another reason for doing this is to revive all the compacted thread and make it look good again. You can use a soft-bristled brush to avoid any ripping.
Once done, you can enjoy your fresh and clean carpet. You can congratulate yourself now that you know how to wash a rug at home all by yourself.
Keeping your carpet rugs clean and safe is certainly a lot of work considering the process you have to go through. You might even ask yourself if you can dry clean a rug instead. Well, the answer to that question is a big yes. There are actually a lot of dry cleaners that clean rugs in your area.
Kelly’s Dry Cleaners, a green earth cleaner in Durango, provides all types of dry cleaning services you can ask for. Whether it be for your rug, carpet, or even curtains, you can count on us to do the job for you. Visit our website now. We hope to talk to you soon!
