How Do You Clean an Area Rug?

Hi L.- I am a manager for Potterybarn and am so gald you asked how to clean an area rug instead of assuming you know how to. I can't tell you how many irrate customers I deal with weekly who tell me they know it is our , not the cleaners or their fault the rug is ruined, they say it is defective. Not true. 1st, what type of material is the rug made of? Wool, cotton, synthetic, chenille etc. That will make a difference. I own a wool rug with a canvas backing that has to be dry shampooed. You never clean a wool rug with a steam cleaner regardless of what other people tell you. Alot of people take rugs to oriental rug cleaners who saturate the rug with water and then complain of a smell. Wool rugs need to be vaccummed frequently, and spot cleaned. When a rug needs a huge cleaning, dry shampoo. If it is cotton steam clean it. Put something under the rug when you steam clean it so it doesn't affect your floors. Chenille is a delicate material that needs to be professionally done. Regardless good up keep of any rug is to vaccuum and spot clean often. Any questions, email me and I would love to help you out. Good luck

2 moms found this helpful

Before I moved up here, I used to have a rug this size. my mom took it to the local self serve car wash. With the spray jets they have she was able to get every last grit of dirt and grim. And it smelled so good, to dry she put it on the top of our car and let it air dry the car was going in for the car wash anyway which is why I told my Mom to take the carpet too. It only took a couple of extra quarters and whatever they use in the car washes kept that carpet clean for like 2 yrs. I had it for a yr after that and gave it to a friend who used it for about year before it got dirty enough to need washing. I know this sounds crazy but it worked and it was cheaper than steam cleaning and less work than using a water hose because any attachments you use just don't have the power that the car wash does. Hope you find something that works for you. W. H

1 mom found this helpful

I have to agree with everyone who already responded. I just cleaned my area rug day before yesterday. I roll mine up and take it to a room with carpet and steam clean it there. Taking it to a clean place outside will do the trick too. To pre-treat,I use a spray cleaner like spray and wash. With smaller rugs, I have taken them outside and sprayed them with my hose: pressure washing! They also make foam cleaners that you spray on, scrub and vacuum. I use these on my couch cushions as they don't get very wet. These should work on your rug too.

Good luck!

S.

Hi L.,
When I clean my area rugs I roll them up and move them to the kitchen floor for cleaning. 'Resolve' works pretty well. It's inexpensive. If you don't have vinyl flooring to utilize, you could also put rugs on a cement driveway...If you don't have that option either, you may want to put plastic (like a tarp or cut up lawn bags) under your rug, spread far enough out so as not to get caught up in the vacuum cleaner and then clean it. Fortunately, the spray does not leave the rug soak wet or permeate like steam would.

Call a carpet cleaner. Why?

If the carpet is that cheap, toss it.

Or let a professional steam clean it. Steam cleaning sanitizes and will make it look brand new.

Some may suggest renting or borrowing a machine. Don't waste your time. It cost about $40 to rent the machine and about another $20 on detergents. You may get that rug to look decent, but it will just be loaded with sticky soap residue that will just attract the soil back quicker. Resolve is loaded with soaps that leave stickiness!

Find a local professional cleaner (certifiedcleaners.org) that uses soap-free cleaning agents. Most all include pick up and delivery in the price and it's about $80-$90. The rug will be gone for about a week....easy, you won't have to haul around a sopping wet carpet off the driveway.

The water temperature from those little machines are about 100-120 degrees vs. the professional use water at about 250 degrees

For an extra $20 bucks your area rug will be cleaner, stay cleaner longer and won't have a ton of soap or chemicals harmful to your kids. Plus you'll be supporting another mom like me, who runs a professional carpet cleaning business!

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

My mother-in-law takes hers out onto the deck, hoses it down, and then scrubs it with a brush.

I've taken ours onto the deck and used a carpet shampooer. She gets better results.

We had a 5x7 area rug in our play room that was absolutely trashed. I came home from work one day and it was beautiful again! Our nanny said she finally got so sick of it that she took the whole thing out onto the driveway and used the garden hose with the sprayer attachment, a spray bottle of Tide and water, and a deck brush. Who knew??

Granted, renting a steam cleaner would probably do the same thing with less work, but if you want free and now, try the garden hose. =)

I am not sure what area you live in, but I have taken my rug to the laundramat located at blossom hill and snell. I too have a 8x11 size rug. It has been awhile since I had it cleaned, but they only charged me $20. They put in in a heavy duty washing machine. The other thing is you can rent the steamer from a local grocery store and do it on your front lawn. Now that gets me thinking...I need to clean mine too. Thanks and good luck

I'm not sure, of course, what type of rug you have, but have you tried one of those spray-on foam rug cleaners? If it's study enough, you can always take it outside, hang it up and hose it off, if it's that dirty. Other than that, I really don't have any ideas.

Take the rug out side onto a clean concrete area, hose it down and scrub with rug soap and water (a scrub brush works). And hose out the suds...... you can hang it over a fence to dry or move it to a dry area....these hot days will help it dry faster. Do not do this if the rug is wool. The only way I have found to clean the wool rugs is to send them out. An area rug cost me about $100.00.

Dry cleaners often have discounts on such items - I'd send to a "green" dry cleaner when they have a special. They do a great job.

I'm not sure where you live. I take my large rugs to Sacramento Rug Works. They do a great job. I just rolled it up and took it there in my car. It usually takes a couple days but comes back looking like brand new.

Here is the contact information:
1308 65th St
Sacramento, CA 95819
###-###-####‎

I have the same issue you do. Our large area rug also sits on top of hardwood flooring. My solution is that I sweep off my driveway and hose it done and once it mostly dries, I haul my rug out there and use the carpet cleaner out there using a long extension cord for power access.it works great and dries quickly on hot days.

Hope this helps.

If you can take it outside, woolite and a scrub brush will do fine. A good stain product is Folex.

Vacuum the heck out of it, then
I'd put it in your driveway on top of a plastic sheet & use Resolve or Woolite on the stains and then shampoo it with one of those rental machines from the grocery store. Let it dry in the sun - hang it over a balcony, fence or your patio table.
Otherwise, Stanley Steemer or Coit will come get it and clean it then bring it back - they charge by the square foot. I paid $250 for a 7.5' X 11.3' wool rug and they brought it back dry, clean & it didn't fade at all. Ask for coupons! I'd recommend this especially if the rug is wool or you really like it and would be bummed if you screwed it up.
Also, I MUST recommend a good quality rug pad to protect your floor!!!! Dye from the rug can transfer & stain the floor, also grit & sand will eventually work their way through the rug and rub against your floor and scratch it, not to mention rug pads stop the rug from shifting around and make the rug more comfy. I'm an interior designer & a have seen what floors look like after having an unprotected rug on them.
Let me know if you have any questions.
A.

Hi L.,
As long as it is an inexpensive rug....I take mine outside,hang them up & beat them with a broom. This will get out the dust etc. I then just wash them out with the hose! You can test a small corner to make sure the colors won't bleed but other than that you should be ok. I just spray them with as high a pressure as i can get, & them let them hang dry. Now some rugs will fall apart if you do it this way but for the most part i have never had that happen. Do you remember seeing old movies where the housekeeper/housewive would have the rugs hung out on the line & she was beating them with a broom or something similar? If you ask your mom or Grandma how they clean rugs they will probably give you a similar response.
I hope this helps you....No reason to pay for an expensive cleaner to clean an inexpensive rug!!! I have also heard good things about "Resolve" rug cleaner, comes in a spray bottle. My only concern here is that due to the size of rug it may take a couple bottles????...Good Luck, Lisa

Hi L.,
First I cleaned the garage floor. The I put the rug out there and steam cleaned it. If your garage floor is mucky, put down a tarp or carpet remnant first.

Good luck.