Maintaining Your Area Rugs

PORTLAND, OR – When it comes to interior decorating, area rugs are one of the best ways to tie a room together. Not only does a rug offer a brief relief from a cold, hardwood floor, but the designs, colors, and even the pile can all have a significant impact on the overall “feel” of a space. Did you know that just under 80% of American households have at least ONE area rug in their home?

Area rugs can be made of a variety of materials: wool, synthetic, or even something like viscose or silk. A higher-end rug may be placed specifically in one part of a room for the sole purpose of aesthetic. Another kind of rug may be placed directly in front of a doorway in the hopes that the rug catches the debris before it can be passed onto the more valuable flooring underneath. Whether you have decorative rugs, practical rugs, or both, it’s important to know how to maintain them.

What You Can Do

Vacuum: Make sure to vacuum your area rug at least once a week. Whether it’s in a high traffic area or not, area rugs are prone to collect dry debris like dust, allergens, and dander. By vacuuming once a week, you are clearing your rug out and not allowing a build up of debris to break down the rug fibers (which would eventually give it a permanently “worn” appearance).

Keep the rugs moving

We don’t mean on wheels. If you rotate your area rugs through your home, you are essentially allowing them to “take turns” in the places where the sun shines the harshest in your home. The sun’s rays can cause color fading in an area rug, so swapping out which rug is where can go a long way in lengthening the time you have with your area rug and its vibrancy.

Buy a pad

If your area rug is on a hardwood floor, tile, concrete, or any kind of hard surface, putting a pad underneath it is a small investment that goes a long way. Not only that, but it keeps the area rug from slipping around so much, making it less of a fall hazard in your home.

Instigate some rug-protection rules

Our area rugs are part of our home, and often have a lot of sentimental value. Some rugs are passed down through generations. Others are purchased on once-in-a-lifetime trips. Whether your rug holds a special place in your heart or you just don’t want to have to buy a new one sooner than necessary, it’s always a good idea to have rules in place that act as rug-preservation.

One of these rules: a shoe-free zone

You might already be a shoes-at-the-door kind of household. Or you might keep your shoes on the whole time you’re in your home. Either way, making sure your decorative rugs do not get trod on by mud-caked shoes is a great way to lengthen their lives and your investment. According to CBS News, about a third of the dust and dirt in your home comes from outside, either blown in or tramped in on shoe bottoms.  That’s a fairly high ratio and taking shoes off or not walking on area rugs with shoes on doesn’t sound like such a crazy concept after reading a statistic like that.

Another tip is to…

Make sure you are flipping any two-sided rugs you own

This will make it so both sides get a use, and one side isn’t showing all the wear right away. This is a similar concept to rotating rugs… but this time, you’re flipping them!

Get the Professional Rug Cleaners Involved

When it comes to area rug cleaning, there is no one better than a professional area rug cleaner. Not only do we have commercial grade equipment and products, but our experience and knowledge helps us tackle any spot or stain with confidence. Did you know that area rug cleaning is, in many ways, a science? Our methods and products vary depending on the source of a stain. Each type of spot has it’s own chemistry, the type of rug factors in to that chemistry, and then you have the variables like how long the stain has been sitting, if it was treated with something else before we got there… etc.

Mike, the co-owner of the business, believes firmly in taking care of each client by seeing their individual needs. Each area rug is handled with care and with the specific attention it needs. A natural fiber like wool or cotton is more sensitive than synthetic materials like polypropylene.  A higher pile shag takes more time to work on than a low-pile because we are making sure we are cleaning the entire length of each carpet fiber.

As a local & family business, we truly desire to make sure that your area rug is taken care of. We offer pick up and drop off if you are unable to get the area rug to our shop. We have experience cleaning synthetic, wool, cotton, viscose, silk, shag, and many other different kinds of rugs. We have cleaned rugs with tags on the back, and we’ve cleaned rugs that were brought in from other countries, we’ve cleaned rugs that were passed down from grandparents, and we’ve cleaned rugs that were just recently purchased out of an auction that just needed a good deep cleaning.

Area rugs are much like wall-to-wall carpet in that it is typically good to have them professionally cleaned every 1-2 years. If you haven’t had a professional rug cleaning within that timeframe, feel free to give us a call! You can reach us at 503-314-7453.  If you have any questions about rug cleaning, carpet cleaning, or any of our other services, we’d sure love to hear from you!

Reviews about area rug cleaning:

“I have used A+ carpet cleaning for 10 years and will not use anyone else. They are excellent at getting out stains and dirt even when other companies have told me it’s ground into the carpet and cannot be gotten out. This happened when I moved into my home. They also do a great job on my lambs wool area rug.” – Sue A

“Great job. Friendly, efficient, and fast turn around! No funny smells, just a clean rug that looks near new. I will definitely recommend Tiki and Mike for area rug cleaning.” – Hill R.

“I had a beautiful handmade wool area rug cleaned by A+, it was a rug that my parents used in our house growing up and it had not been cleaned in probably 30 years. There were plenty of stains and a lost of dirt and grim from being in storage for years. The end result was beautiful! The rug looks so nice and is now ready for a long life ahead of it in our home. Tiki was great to work with, and drop-off and pick-up was quick and easy. It took a little over a week to get it cleaned and the price was very reasonable. I would highly recommend A+ to anyone! Excellent family business!” – Katie B