9 Critical Ways To Keep Your Area Rug Clean

Similar to the other flooring in your home such as hardwood or traditional wall to wall carpet, area rugs generally demand the right attention in order to stay in tip-top shape. Additionally, cleaning your area rugs daily and addressing stains in a timely manner will go a very long way towards keeping your rugs in incredible shape. To help you care for your ling term investments, here are 9 tips for area rug cleaning. 

1. Spot clean area rugs the instant that spills happen so they do not set into the area rug. A majority of stains are easier to remove while they are still fresh.
2. If a spill is not absorbed by the flooring under the area rug, place a towel underneath the rug while you work on it, or carefully move it to another surface.
3. Remove any spilled solids from your rug with the non-serrated side of a butter knife. Be sure to work gently because you don’t want to smear the stain or drive anything further into the rug's fibers.
4. Absorb wet stains by laying a white cotton towel over them (dyed cloths may transfer color).
5. We generally suggest that you never rub or scrub at a stain. If you do, the stain will eventually spread, making it larger and harder to remove. Furthermore, rubbing could also damage the rug's fibers, cause it to become fuzzy, or even create a hole in your rug. We suggest that you always blot spills instead.
6. Poorly made area rugs may simply be holding on to loose dirt. We recommend that you vacuum regularly -- two to three times a week --  in high-traffic areas such as entryways and halls. Doing so will keep the dirt from getting ground into the fibers and your area rugs will last longer.
7. Repel pet hair from your area rug by spraying it with laundry static-remover spray.
8. Some old, delicate area rug stains can actually "remove themselves." We suggest that you fold the area rug in toward the stain (right at the center of the stain) and rub the two sides together (each side of the stain facing the other) until the stain crumbles.
9. A variety of spot cleaners are available on the market, but you may want to think twice or maybe even three times before using them -- they can sometimes leave behind traces of chemicals that attract a good amount of dirt.