How do I clean my large area rug?
A high quality area rug can provide a beautiful look and lasting comfort for your home. In fact, one of the quickest ways to give your rooms a refresh is by installing a large area rug on the floor, and area rug cleaning is most important. In addition to being easy to incorporate into any interior design aesthetic, they can also work on virtually every type of flooring – wood, tile, you name it.
However, they can be difficult to keep clean, and stains have to be taken care of promptly and properly in order to avoid lasting damage. At Whitehall Carpet Cleaners, we have the expertise and experience to get your large area rug cleaning and looking like new right away.
Area Rug Cleaning 101
To understand what makes area rugs special, we’ll take a look at some of their key characteristics. First, let’s explore how area rugs are similar to carpets (though, as we’ll see below, they are also different in some very important ways). They’re soft, cozy, warm, and can help lower volume in a room by muffling the sound, just like a carpet. Additionally, the perfect rug can add the finishing touch to a room by complementing existing design motif, furnishings, and overall layout.
For area rug materials and construction, area rugs are often made of cotton or wool, silk or olefin, jute or synthetic materials like nylon. The size can range from 3×5 and 5×8, all the way up to 9×12 or larger.
As with any textiles, the price range for area rugs will depend on material, pile, size, manufacturing method – hand tufted, hand knotted, hand woven, or machine made – and overall quality. Generally speaking, a starter area rug (think IKEA) will run a couple hundred dollars, while a higher end rug (think vintage) can cost several thousand dollars.
What about keeping your area rug clean and maintaining it for years of use? In this, they have similarities with wall-to-wall carpeting, such as the need for daily vacuuming to keep it looking nice and clean. Plus, you’ll want to schedule annual cleanings by a professional team like Whitehall Carpet Cleaners to ensure that your area rug looks brand new year after year.
Are Area Rugs Different Than Regular Carpets?
The short answer is yes. While carpets and area rugs have many similarities, as we saw above, they are also different in some very important ways. This is especially true when it comes to cleaning.
First of all, area rugs do require daily or weekly maintenance, just like carpets. Simple, regular vacuuming is needed in order to remove quick stains and keep them smelling nice day after day.
But, unlike carpets, deep stains can be incredibly difficult and tricky on area rugs. This goes especially for jute rugs, which really shouldn’t even be exposed to water, much less other dark, pungent liquids like juice or, even worse, pet urine.
If you happen to experience a stain on your small or large area rug, you should absolutely seek out the help of professionals. At-home remedies do exist, but they are always difficult to get “just right”. Unless you feel comfortable channeling your inner Walter White in the living room, it is always best to just hire the pros and let them clear it all up in a jiffy.
Whitehall’s Expert Cleaning Process
Now that you know you shouldn’t take on the challenge of cleaning up a messy stain on your area rug (that goes double for antique rugs!), we’d like to pull back the curtain a bit and explain our own process.
Without getting into the specifics too much, here’s what we do: the highly skilled and trained professionals at Whitehall Carpet Cleaners bring in specialized equipment and commercial-grade cleaning supplies. With these materials and their deep experience and knowledge, they are able to handle even the peskiest stains with care and precision.
In other words, don’t be scared of area rug stains. Instead, call the local pros at Whitehall Carpet Cleaners to take care of area rug cleaning for you and get your large area rug looking perfect again in no time.
How to Maintain Your Area Rug Cleaning at Home
While it is always important to call professionals to clean up stains (big or small), you can actually maintain your area rug at home with some simple steps.
First, you should be vacuuming your area rugs every day, if possible. We know that life gets busy, and for many people this simply isn’t a possibility. That being said, if you do have the time and energy to vacuum your large area rug every single day, you will be incredibly glad that you did.
Daily vacuuming is arguably the single most important factor when it comes to maintaining both rugs and carpets alike. This age-old practice keeps your area rugs looking nice, smelling fresh, and feeling soft under your bare feet day in, day out.
In addition to vacuum cleaning, you can also use a carpet brush or carpet rake to go the extra step. This doesn’t need to be done every day, but it should be completed regularly for the best results. Likewise, you should sweep underneath your area rugs to keep the floor and the room at large clean and neat as well.
Finally, you can use rug protectors on heavy furniture, keep your area rugs out of direct sunlight whenever possible, and use air dehumidifiers in the rooms where your area rugs live in order to further extend their life and look for as long as possible.
If you do happen to experience a nasty spill on your area rug cleaning, you should definitely call the pros. But, until they arrive, there are some steps you can take to decrease the chance of the spill becoming permanent:
- Dab the spilled area dry with a fresh white cloth.
Pro Tip: Dab at the stain from outside to inside. - Add a little water to the stained area and keep blotting with the clean, white towel.
- Always dab or blot. Do not scrub the area rug. Scrubbing can very often damage the area rug’s fibers.
- Once you’ve done this, wait for the pros to arrive!
Of course, no matter how you decide to clean and maintain your large area rugs, you should make sure to schedule routine maintenance and deep cleanings with professionals. At Whitehall Carpet Cleaners, we have the expertise, experience, and equipment to make sure that your rugs and carpets look like new season after season, and year after year.
Call or email us today to schedule a consultation and find out which services are right for you and your area rugs and carpets.