Did you know? Area rugs may require different cleaning procedures depending on fiber type. Some area rugs may turn brown or yellow if certain detergents are used.  In cleaning area rugs, make sure you know the cleaning procedures required for your particular area rug type.

Area Rug Care and Cleaning

Whether you buy discount area rugs or a priceless treasure, you will need to know how to care for your new area rug.  Most area rugs can be cleaned with any type of cleaning method, but the cleaning chemistry may vary by area rug fiber type or dye method.  Use a cleaning system that is appropriate for the specific are rug type or fiber system for your particular rug.

Many area rugs blend two or more fibers in the pile.  The blending of fibers helps overcome the weaknesses of certain fiber types.  Typical blends include wool/nylon, nylon/olefin, nylon/acrylic, wool/silk, jute/wool, sisal/wool, and cotton/rayon. 

The primary approach for cleaning area rugs is to clean for the primary fiber that is present in the area rug. 

Examine area rug tags and identify the fiber with the highest percentage of fiber content. Generally, the primary fiber is listed first, but use caution when the blend is near equivalent such as a 60-40 blend.  In these cases, you should clean for both types of fiber.  Some fibers, such as silk, are extremely sensitive to certain cleaning chemicals, so extreme care should be used.

  Carefully watch for dye bleeding in silk or silk blends and use caution with excessive heat in olefin rugs.  also, carefully watch for browning or yellowing with blends of natural fibers.  The pH of the cleaning solution should be monitored carefully.  High pH <8 will affect some sensitive fibers.

You  should be especially cautious in cleaning braided rugs or woven rag rugs, needle point rugs and hand-tufted or hooked rugs with a scrim back material.  Always pretest any cleaning chemical you select on a small area of the rug to ensure the chemical properties of the cleaning chemical are suitable for your rug.

If you are unsure of the fiber content or if you are unsure of the cleaning procedures for your new area rug, cleaning expensive rugs is best left to a professional.  However, remember not all carpet cleaners have experience with different fiber types.  Many carpet cleaners rarely clean anything but synthetic fibers, which are very forgiving fibers.  In selecting a carpet cleaner to clean your expensive rugs, make sure you review our Hiring a carpet cleaner section and make sure the carpet cleaner carries insurance.

The following information should help by providing basic rug care information for the various types of area rugs and area rug fibers that you will encounter.  This explanation is not intended to make you an expert in rug care, but it should help you maintain your own rugs.

Woven Rugs, Velvet Rugs and Interlock

Woven carpet is constructed using warp and weft yarns to create a backing and pile yarns are woven into these fibers.  Any number of fiber types may be used in the backing or pile fiber and may be natural fibers or synthetic fibers.  Most expensive woven area rugs will utilize wool or wool blend fibers.

All cleaning methods are safe but a dry cleaning method is the preferred method.  Wet cleaning may be used, but excessive overwetting may contribute to color bleeding or shrinking.  If you use a wet cleaning method, minimize moisture use and speed the drying process.  Pretest darker colored areas to checking for color bleed before you begin cleaning.

Cleaning Cotton and Cotton Blend Fibers

Cotton is a natural cellulosic fiber and rayon is a manufactured cellulose fiber manufactured from wood pulp.  These two fibers have similar properties, and can be cleaned using the same cleaning methodology and cleaning chemistry.

Cotton and rayon are rarely used in wall-to-wall carpet, but are often found in area rugs.  These fibers offer a soft hand and provide beautiful colorations.  Cotton may be used in weft yarns of many woven area rugs, especially hand-knotted Oriental rugs.

Both cotton and rayon are relatively inexpensive fibers, have the tendency to absorb a large of water, and dry very slowly.  Since these fibers are organic, they must be dried quickly to limit microbial growth which may use the organic compounds in the fiber as a food source.

Both have fair to good resistance to changes in alkalinity and the use of highly alkaline cleaning solutions is acceptable.

Both fibers have disadvantages just as any other fiber.  They have the tendency to crush or flatten fairly easily and they offer poor resistance to direct sunlight.  They can become a food source for mold and mildew and they are flammable without fire retardant treatments.

Rayon has poor dimensional stability when wet and will shrink and distort when exposed to excessive moisture.  Rayon is called art silk in India and is used as silk in some handmade area rugs. 

The cleaning method used for cotton and rayon rugs depends on the types of dye used, the finishes applied and the percent of cellulosic fiber content.  You always should pretest all colors in cotton and rayon area rugs constructions before proceeding with any cleaning method or cleaning chemistry because both7 cotton and rayon have the tendency to bleed.

If a flame retardant chemical has been applied to the fiber, ensure that the cleaning chemistry will not remove the flame retardant properties.  Area rugs constructed of 100 percent rayon should be cleaned using a dry method only, since rayon is extremely susceptible to shrinking.  Host, Capture, or a dry foam carpet cleaning method are preferred.

Both cotton and rayon are susceptible to browning if a high pH cleaning chemistry is used. Cleaning on the acid side- pH of 7 or less is recommended from both cotton and rayon.

Use the following precautions when cleaning cotton or other plant fiber rugs.

1. Vacuum aggressively to remove as much embedded soil as possible

2. Pretest all colors for browning and color stability

3. apply prespray and allow 8-10 minutes dwell time before attempted cleaning

4. Use minimal moisture cleaning methods with a pH of 5-8

5. accelerate drying using air movers, dehumidifiers or other drying equipment

6. Use an acid rinse following alkaline cleaning

7. Use only an oxygen safe bleach, reducing agent or anti-browning agent to restore color

Cleaning Sisal Fiber Area Rugs

There are a number of fibers used in rug making that originate fromvegetable or  plants.  These include jute, hemp, flax (linen), raime (rhea) abaca, sisal, pineapple, coir reeds, or sea grass and kapok.  Each of these specialty fibers have cleaning properties similar to cotton.  Most provide a coarse texture rather than the refined look of cotton, but each rug is unique unto itself. Sisal originates from the leaves of the ‘Agave Sisalana’ plant which is native to Central America.

Jute is a baste fiber obtained from the stalk of the jute plant found, primarily in Pakistan, India, and South America.  Jute was once used as the secondary backing of choice for most broad wall carpet constructions until a greedy monopoly in India forced US carpet producers to seek other material for this secondary backing.

Rayon is manufactured from regenerated cotton pulp or wood pulp.  Rayon uses several chemical properties to develop the refined look of silk.

Since each of these fibers are cellulosic, each has a high probability of browning as a result of cleaning.  Use a low moisture technique such as dry foam extraction carpet cleaning, Host or Capture, for these rugs to minimize cellulosic browning. Use the guidelines for cotton in cleaning these plant fiber rugs.

One added precaution for Sisal is the type of dye system used for the rug- many utilized a stenciled or printed dye system to apply dye.  Color stability is usually a primary concern for these types of rugs.  Careful chemical selection and light agitation should be used in caring for these rugs.

Nylon Area Rugs

Nylon is the most common fiber that you will encounter in buying area rugs.  It provides the best all-around performance of any fiber, offering long wear life, abrasion, resistance, good cleanability with a wide variety of cleaning chemicals and cleaning methods.  It offers low water absorbency, good resiliency, and excellent dimensional stability. Visit our carpet cleaning section for information on cleaning these types of rugs.

Cleaning Olefin Rugs

Olefin fibers (polypropylene) are found in a large number of rugs because the are easy to manufacture, can be manufactured cheaply, provide good durability, can be cleaned with all carpet cleaning methods, and can be cleaned with almost any cleaning chemistry.  Review our carpet pile fibers area for a complete description of the advantages and disadvantages of olefin. 

One caution should be noted with olefin area rugs, however.  Olefin is an oleophilic (oil-loving) fiber.  Oily soils are easily absorbed into the fiber.  By the same example, oily cleaning solvents have the same negative characteristic.  For example, while mineral spirits is a very good cleaner for many fibers, its oily texture might not be a good choice for cleaning oleophilic fibers like olefin or polyester.

Cleaning Polyester Area Rugs

Polyester, like olefin, is another of those oleophilic fiber systems and care should be taken in placing a polyester area rug in areas exposed to oily soil or other oily stains.  Polyester is a fiber that is most similar to wool in the way it reflects color.

Polyester is easily cleanable and is very versatile, in that it is very affable to a variety of cleaning chemistry's and cleaning methods.  It cleans very well and dries relatively quickly. 

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