Daily care and maintenance
Start by making sure that family and guests remove their outdoor shoes before walking across your area rug. This will help prevent dirt accumulation. As dirt particles can damage rug fibers, less dirt means less damage. For most of our area rugs, a daily to weekly vacuuming with a manufacturer’s approved appliance will suffice to keep them feeling and looking fresh. If your rug is in an area with light to medium traffic, a twice-weekly vacuuming will be fine. However, for rugs in heavy-traffic areas, a quick daily vacuuming is recommended. You may also consider placing carpet protectors under furniture legs, reducing the area rug's exposure to direct sunlight, and exercising caution when moving heavy furniture.
When vacuuming a shag area rug, it’s very important to protect the cable yarn when vacuuming. Not only can long yarns on from the area rug wrap around your vacuum’s beater bar, also known as a rotator brush, but the brush itself can damage your rug’s fibers. To prevent such damage, first consult your vacuum’s manual to learn how to disconnect the beater bar. Once it’s disconnected, set your vacuum to the lowest height setting, which provides the best suction. You may also want to consider buying a carpet rake to loosen any soil before vacuuming.
We also recommend an occasional professional cleaning (especially one using the hot water extraction method) or that you shampoo your area rug yourself. You may even consider making this task a part of your annual spring or summer cleaning routine! Just be sure to consult and follow the manufacturer’s cleaning guidelines beforehand for maximum effectiveness and a beautiful end result. Never dry clean area rugs or use bleach on them.
Dealing with spills and stains
Sometimes, regardless of how careful you are or how meticulous you are in caring for and maintaining your area rug, it falls victim to the occasional spill or becomes dirty—especially if you have kids or pets! Many of our area rugs are sold with stain-resistant technology built right into the fibers—just like Shaw Floors carpet, which has R2X Stain and Soil Protection. This makes it easy to clean common household stains.
Your first instinct when it comes to dealing with common household spills or stains on your area rug might be to immediately start cleaning up the mess. However, it’s important to first establish whether the stain is oil- or water-based. Then, consult our common stain removal guide. Since some messes will simply wipe away with a cleaning cloth while others are more complicated, it's best to use our guide to find the best approach to tackling each mess.
