this short video, we'll discuss the two mistakes
that most rug owners make that severely shortens
the life of their rugs.
These two mistakes are easy to avoid,
and in just a couple of minutes you'll
know how to avoid them yourself and keep
your rugs looking great and lasting
as long as they possibly can.
There are three factors that affect the need for cleaning
and the overall life of your rugs.
The first is the general activity and level
of soiling where the rug is located.
Most rugs are located in relatively high-traffic areas
of the home where there's a lot of dirt and foot traffic.
The second factor is the quality of the materials used
in the manufacture of the rug.
Now many modern rugs are chemically
washed to soften the face yarns and give the wool extra shine.
Unfortunately, this also damages the wool
and can shorten the life of the rug.
Now there may not be much you can do about the first two
factors, but the third factor is completely in your control.
The final factor that affects your rug's life
is does the rug receive proper vacuuming or appropriate
maintenance on a frequent and consistent basis?
The two mistakes that most rug owners make
when taking care of their rugs are either they
don't vacuum the rugs enough or they vacuumed them improperly.
You want to view vacuuming your rugs like dusting them.
To see why, let's consider how rugs become worn.
Dust settles on your rugs in the same way
that it settles on your furniture, floors,
and countertops.
In addition, abrasive dirt is tracked on your rugs
from foot traffic.
Now this dirt starts off in the very tips of the face
yarns of the rug, but over time the dirt
becomes embedded in the base of the yarns
and finally into the foundation of the rug.
This dirt is abrasive and with continued foot traffic
and the full body weight of people walking on them,
the fibers of the rugs are cut and worn out from contact
with the dirt, and this is the reason most rugs are lost.
They simply wear out and there are no fibers left, no design,
and nothing soft to walk on.
So let's talk about how to keep this
from happening to your rugs.
Preventing this damage is fairly easy.
All you need to do is break the cycle.
In other words, if the dirt gets deposited
on the face of the rubber but it gets vacuumed off
or dusted before it has a chance to work
its way into the foundation, it stops the dirt
from reaching the foundation of the rug
and prevents the abrasive wear in the foundation.
So the best way to prevent wearing your rugs
is to frequently dust them.
When the dirt becomes embedded in the foundation,
it's almost impossible to remove it without a thorough washing,
and this is why it's never a good idea
to surface clean rugs the way a carpet cleaner would.
This type of cleaning cleans the face yarn
but does nothing to remove the damaging dirt
in the foundation.
If it's been two years or more since your rugs have
been immersion washed, it won't be possible to get ahead
of the cycle.
There's probably already embedded
dirt in the foundation of your rug,
and vacuuming alone won't remove it.
A thorough washing will remove the dirt in the foundation,
and then frequent dusting will help
to keep it from coming back.
This is why we recommend washing your rugs every two to three
years depending on the traffic level on the rug,
and we recommend vacuuming or dusting rugs
as often as you can.
Meanwhile, if you have any questions
about proper maintenance of your rugs, just give us a call
and we'll be happy to help you out.
And please let us know if you like this video.