Carpet Cleaning Products and Equipment to Avoid

Although most rugs and carpets, especially the more expensive types, are made to be tough, durable and to withstand all kinds of wear and tear, there is likely to come a time when you will need to give your rug a proper cleaning.

 

And when that time comes, you need to make sure that you know what you are doing and have a clear understanding of what not to be using to do the cleaning, as the wrong technique, products or equipment could lead to irreparable damage that will be far worse than any stain.

The good news is that with a few helpful, easy-to-follow tips, the chances of you making a huge mistake, which could end up causing a lot of damage, are minimal. Below we discuss carpet cleaning products and equipment to avoid.

 

And if all else fails, or you fear you may do the wrong thing, you always have the option of calling in a professional to help you out. If you’re on the hunt for a Persian rug, or any rug for that matter, be sure to browse through our different rug styles.

 

A Note on Rug Materials

The most important thing that you need to keep in mind when the time comes to clean your rug is the type of material that the rug is made from.

 

Older rugs, especially those made from silk and similar materials, will require very specific cleaning methods and products to ensure that the rug stays in the best condition, so that it will hold onto its value.

 

Generally, immensely valuable rugs will be taken to a professional for a cleaning, and this is for the best, as you wouldn’t want to devalue the rug by cleaning it incorrectly and essentially doing more harm than good.

 

Most modern rugs, especially those bought from a general homeware store, are a lot easier to deal with because they are made to withstand a lot more than an older rug.

 

You should also consider the style of the rug you are cleaning. Shag rugs and very fluffy rugs are going to be a little trickier to clean than others, because you are going to want to be a lot more careful with your approach.

 

It always helps to check if the rug comes with any specific instructions concerning the cleaning, and if so, you should make a point of following these so as to avoid the dreaded damage.

 

Household Products you should never use on a Rug

Whenever you are researching what products you can use to clean your rug, you are going to be greeted by a stream of online blogs and articles sharing the latest cleaning tips, all of which can be done at home, using household products.

 

But these online articles can be incredibly misleading. Take care when mixing up any concoction using household products meant to clean your rug. And if you are going to experiment, you should always start by just gently dabbing a tiny part of the rug, ideally in a spot where it won’t be noticeable if the mixture causes an unsightly mess. If your rug or carpet gets a stain, it is important that you move as quickly as possible to avoid it becoming a permanent feature.

 

But before you head to the cupboard under your sink to grab the nearest bottle of cleaner, go through this list of household products that you should keep well away from your rug.

 

Bleach

Bleach can be a fantastic remedy for some things, but it is a big no-no for any kind of rug.

The bleach might get rid of the stain, but it could end up creating an even bigger, even uglier bleach stain that you will never be able to remove. Not only is the bleach going to make a mess, but it will also be unpleasant to inhale, so you won’t want it around your children or your pets.

There are much better ways to remove stains and other sorts of dirt and grime than using bleach, so leave that bottle where it is.

 

Abrasive Cleaners

A first instinct when you are confronting a stain is to scrub it hard. But as you can probably imagine, one of two things is going to happen. You could either end up spreading the stain further around the rug, or you can end up completely ruining the fabrics. And as Murphy’s Law would have it, it is more than likely that you will end up doing both if you decide to go down this road.

 

When you are cleaning the rug on your own, always go for a gentle cleaning method, and try dabbing instead of rubbing hard. Anytime you apply too much pressure, you could end up creating a bald spot, or worse.

 

Dish soap

Sunlight is great for getting the oils and other food stuffs off of plates, but it is not the sort of thing you want to be rubbing on your rug.

The good news is that dish soap is not likely to ruin your rug, and it will probably remove the stain. The bad news is that the soap will seep in and either become a trap for the dirt or it will cause the fabric to get stuck together causing a hard spot to form.

It can be incredibly difficult to get all of the soap out of the materials once you are ready to rinse it. This wouldn’t necessarily be a big deal if you were cleaning a smaller rug that you could easily take outside and rinse, but for bigger rugs and fixed carpets, it could be a really big problem.

 

Ammonia

This one can come up on a lot of lists, but the reason why you should perhaps avoid using it has a lot to do with the harm it can cause with its fumes. Ammonia should always be used with caution, and you shouldn’t use it on a rug because the materials are going to be fully absorbed, making it hard to get rid of the smell.

Ammonia is also known to cause damage to synthetic materials as well as wool and it can also ruin dyes.

 

Hydrogen Peroxide

This is the one thing that is in almost every household, and it is also something that appears on most rug cleaning lists. So you might be surprised to hear that hydrogen peroxide is not actually something that you should be using on your rug when it comes time to clean it.

When you use hydrogen peroxide in a high concentration, it can act as a bleaching agent, and using it in the quantity that it generally comes in as a household product will basically do nothing.

 

Household Equipment you should never use on a Rug

While there is a long list of products that you should avoid using on your rug when cleaning it, there is not such a long list of equipment. The most important thing that you should always keep in mind when thinking about what kind of equipment you should be using to clean a stain, is that whatever you use, it shouldn’t be too abrasive.

 

Hard brushes and cloths, and even a hard cleaning technique, can all damage the rug fibres. The damage can be as minimal as the fabrics just moving a little out of shape, or the damage can be as bad as the rug developing a bald spot, where the fabric tears away or becomes so worked in that they give the illusion of there being a bald spot.

 

If you are cleaning a large space, such as an office or a workshop, you are probably not going to want to tackle the job by hand. In such cases, you should consider looking at a bigger piece of equipment, such as an industrial cleaner, which is perfect for giving a bigger rug or carpet a complete deep clean and fast. Generally, this kind of equipment is only accessible with the services of a cleaning company. Although, if it is a large office space or warehouse you are working with, you will probably want to hire the services of a professional carpet cleaning company.

 

At Rugs Original, we not only sell a vast array of stunning modern and timeless rugs, but we also want to ensure our customers have access to the sort of information that will help you keep your rug in the very best condition. Along with reading through all of our latest blogs, you can always contact us for any rug cleaning advice.