Area Rug
Care & Maintenance

At design. Waterville, we recommend regular care and maintenance to keep your area rug looking and feeling its very best. Even if you don’t have a lot of spare time, you can easily incorporate these simple tasks into your regular cleaning routine to help your rug retain its beauty over the long term! Read on to learn more!

Daily area rug care & maintenance

Start by investing in doormats and placing them throughout your home. Have friends and family members use them when entering your home. You should also ask visitors to remove outdoor shoes before walking across your rug. It’s important to minimize the amount of dirt tracked onto your flooring, as dirt particles can damage rug fibers.

While keeping preventative maintenance in mind, you should also develop a regular care routine. Regularly vacuum your area rug using a manufacturer-approved appliance. If it experiences light to medium traffic, vacuuming it once or twice a week should be sufficient. If it experiences heavy traffic, however, you may want to vacuum more frequently.

When vacuuming shag area rugs, be careful! Long yarns from shag area rugs can get caught up in your vacuum’s beater bar (or rotator brush) and the beater bar itself can be too harsh on your rug’s fibers. To prevent damage, consult your vacuum’s manual on properly removing the beater bar before vacuuming. Once it’s disconnected, set your vacuum to the lowest available height setting for the best suction. You may also want to consider buying a carpet rake to loosen any dirt before vacuuming.

Dealing with area rug stains

No matter how careful you are, your area rug will likely fall victim to a spill or mess of some sort, especially if you have children or pets. If this happens, don’t panic! Many of our area rugs are sold with stain-resistant technology built right into their fibers, making it easy to clean common household messes. Still, it’s important to address spills the right way.

We also recommend that you have your area rug cleaned professionally throughout the year using the hot water extraction method. An alternative is to shampoo your rug yourself, although you should make sure you follow your manufacturer’s cleaning guidelines. Consider a professional cleaning at least once or twice a year. You should never dry clean your area rugs or use bleach to clean them.

Coffee spill on area rug | Design Waterville