Does your rug need a deep clean? Discover how to bring your floor coverings back from the brink with these smart cleaning tips. Learn how to clean a hand woven rug at home without any special equipment or cleaning chemicals. Beautifully woven rugs are an investment; discover how to care for yours.
Hand-knotted rugs date back thousands of years, and almost every culture has its version of the woven rug using culturally significant colors and patterns. Woven rugs and textiles are a lush touch for any space, but rugs, by nature, take a bit of a beating from everyday wear and tear. Interior carpets absorb pollutants, cooking fumes, and even gas from the fireplace.
A well-worn wool rug might seem like a lost cause, but cleaning a rug at home is entirely doable. You don’t necessarily have to contract a professional carpet cleaner to get the job done. Find out how to care for hand-woven textiles using beginner-friendly tutorials and inexpensive tools.
- Top Tips for Cleaning a Hand Woven Rug
- Cleaning a Persian Rug
- How to Care for an Oriental Rug
- Keeping Your Moroccan Rug Clean
- How to Cleanse a Jute Rug
- How to Hand Wash a Large Braided Wool Rug
- Cleaning Pet Mess From an Area Rug
- Cleaning an Ink Stain From a Woven Carpet
- How to Get Tomato Stains Out of a Wool Area Rug
- Cleaning Grease and Oil Stains From Carpets
- Cleaning a Hand-Woven Rug With Steam
- How to Clean a Hand Woven Rug With Deodorizer
- Professional Carpet Cleaning and Conservation
Top Tips for Cleaning a Hand Woven Rug
If you love an attractive area rug, you’ll want these tips for how to hand wash a large braided wool rug without damaging to the delicate weave. Learn about many kinds of carpets and how to best care for each of them using these novice-friendly tips and tricks.
Cleaning a Persian Rug
Persian rugs are simply rugs that originate from the ancient Persian empire (modern-day Iran). Even today, these carpets symbolize prestige and are the benchmark by which we make other hand-woven rugs. Discover how to clean a hand woven rug quickly and easily.
Roll up the rug and take it outside for a shake-out. Ensure you get both sides of the rug to release dirt and grime. Vacuum the carpet, starting with the back and then flipping it over to do the fibers.
Fill a bowl with cold water and add a bit of mild detergent; use a clean sponge to scrub the rug in sections. Rinse the mat with fresh water to remove the soap residue and allow the carpet to air dry before placing it back on the rug pad.
How to Care for an Oriental Rug
Oriental rugs are usually pile-woven or flat-woven with materials like wool, cotton, or silk. Orientem means “the East” in Latin, and the Orient was a term for the East in geographical relation to Europe. This term covers a broad range of countries, artisans, and techniques.
Cleaning a hand woven rug starts with checking the tag to ensure you know the manufacturer’s care instructions. Many modern rugs have a label sewn into the carpet to indicate how to clean the material. Hand-knotted rugs are no different unless it’s an antique or vintage rug variety.
When organizing your cleaning supplies, note that most oriental rugs benefit from cold water, mild detergent, and a soft sponge. However, even regularly scheduling time to beat the dirt and dust out of the carpet piles goes a long way toward minimizing dust and allergens trapped in the fibers.
Keeping Your Moroccan Rug Clean
Moroccan rugs have been hand-woven by the indigenous people of Morocco since the Stone Age. Traditionally woven for utility instead of decorative purposes, these rugs are flat-woven to be light and suitable for the climate of the Sahara desert, or they have a thick, heavy pile, making them ideal for life in the snow-capped Atlas mountains.
Often, thorough vacuuming is all that’s required to get dirt off a hand woven rug. However, we suggest this white vinegar and dish soap cleaning solution when you want a deep clean. Combine the ingredients in a repurposed spray bottle and gently shake it to mix.
Spritz your Moroccan rug in small sections, scrub with a soft bristle brush, and rinse well with cold water. This solution is gentle enough for a natural fiber or handmade rug and shouldn’t strip any of the dye out of the threads like some heavy-duty chemical cleaners.
How to Cleanse a Jute Rug
Jute is an affordable natural fiber from flowering plants in the mallow family or the Corchorus genus. Washing a hand woven rug with natural fibres and caring for woven rugs or braided rugs is a breeze with these tips.
Take your jute rug outside and use a broom or a rug beater to force the dirt particles out of the weave; be sure to get the entire carpet. UV rays are a natural disinfectant and deodorizer. Leave your jute to bask in the sun for an hour to two to kill odors and bacteria.
Steam, wet shampoo, and washing aren’t suitable for jute. Liquids cause discoloration and should only be used for emergency spot cleaning. If you need a liquid cleaner, dry the area with a hair dryer to prevent a stain from forming.
How to Hand Wash a Large Braided Wool Rug
Wool fiber is rich, soft, and luxurious, so a wool rug is often considered superior to a synthetic rug in looks and feel. Discover how to hand wash a large braided wool rug while preserving the texture, color, and pattern. Proper care ensures your wool rugs last for years if not generations.
Vacuum your wool rugs at least once a week and clean the fringes with the upholstery attachment to keep buildup and bacteria to a minimum, and don’t allow your pets to sleep on them if possible.
Start by shaking out the rug to release any dust embedded in the fibers. Always check the manufacturer’s guide before you proceed with any chemical cleaning.
When rug cleaning, use only cold water on wool carpets. Cold water protects the fibers and keeps them from distorting or shrinking as they air dry. While it’s possible to be more aggressive with synthetic fibers, carpet experts recommend only using gentle carpet shampoo or mild detergent to treat stains on wool carpets.
Cleaning Pet Mess From an Area Rug
Pet mess happens, but it doesn’t have to ruin your expensive, hand-knotted wool area rugs. Surprisingly, it’s not that tough to get stains off a braided rug if you act quickly. Blot the excess liquid with a clean paper towel, and work your way from the outside of the stain to the middle.
Fill a bowl with a 50/50 mixture of distilled white vinegar and use a microfiber cloth to distribute the DIY rug cleaner across the stain. Let the vinegar sit for a few moments, and follow up with clean water to rinse. Grab a second cloth, blot excess moisture, and let the rug air dry in the sun.
Cleaning an Ink Stain From a Woven Carpet
Is there anything more heartbreaking than an accidental ink spill on a brand-new, hand-knotted carpet? Probably. However, it’s still pretty disheartening. Clean an ink stain without cutting a patch from your shag rug.
Modern ink contains a mix of stubborn pigments and dyes that adhere to individual fibers. Use a simple household solvent like rubbing alcohol to break the ink apart for easy removal. Wet the corner of a clean cloth with rubbing alcohol and blot the rug gently, lifting the ink stain. Rinse with cold water and repeat where required.
How to Get Tomato Stains Out of a Wool Area Rug
Americans adore a delicious tomato-based sauce; pizza and pasta are national treasures. Unfortunately, the tomato sauce often jumps off the plate and onto the rug. Find out the best way to clean tomato stains out of carpets.
First, spoon away any excess sauce without pressing it into the carpet, then get a bottle of club soda and use a clean cloth to apply some to the tomato stain. Work from the outside of the stain inward; club soda is safe for wool and synthetic fiber. Blot the excess tomato sauce with a clean paper towel and let the carpet air dry.
Cleaning Grease and Oil Stains From Carpets
Grease and oil spills from last night’s chicken take a toll on delicate, hand-woven rugs. These stains are tough to lift without the correct order of operations. Sprinkle baking soda or cornstarch onto the grease stain and let it sit for 15 minutes to absorb the oil globules.
Vacuum up the baking soda or shake it out, then go in with a clean, white cloth, cold water, and a teaspoon of mild soap. The dish soap is a natural degreaser and works wonders if you have to clean greasy food stains out of the entire rug.
Always rinse the affected area with cold water and hang the rug in the sun to dry thoroughly before returning it.
Cleaning a Hand-Woven Rug With Steam
To get stains off a hand braided wool rug made of synthetic fiber, you need the power of steam. Fortunately, hand steamers and carpet shampoo are affordable these days and worth their weight in gold if you constantly deal with carpet cleanup.
Find a good sale and purchase the best model you can for your budget. Don’t use steam-powered machines on wool or silk rugs because the intense heat shrinks and deforms the carpet weave.
How to Clean a Hand Woven Rug With Deodorizer
Now that you know the finer points of spot washing a hand woven rug, it’s time to focus on deodorizing. This natural and eco-friendly deodorizer is easy to whip up and suitable for just about any floor covering, from your cheap cotton rug to your handmade Moroccan mat.
Find a small container with holes in the lid, such as a spice container. Fill it with eight ounces of baking soda and ten drops of lavender oil. Sprinkle the deodorizer on the carpet, let it sit for half an hour, and vacuum it up using the soft brush attachment.
We recommend a monthly deodorizing routine to get the most out of this recipe. Less is more when it comes to deodorizing powders. Excessive use could clog up your vacuum or create a film on your carpet fibers.
Professional Carpet Cleaning and Conservation
Your local carpet cleaning service should have great tips for conservation and will be able to perform a deep cleaning you can’t do in your own home. Natural fibers like wool require different treatment than a regular synthetic carpet, and cleaning a hand woven rug is sometimes best left to the professionals.
When in doubt about your intricately knotted rug, contact the pros; assistance is ideal if you have an oriental, Persian, or silk rug.
We hope you enjoyed learning how to clean a hand woven rug and plan to put these pointers to use at home. Proper carpet care and maintenance extend the life of your hand-knotted rugs, preserve the pile, and keep the colors crisp for years to come.
Remember that the type of rug you own determines how you clean it; always check the tag. Stick to cold water and mild detergent for wool, and keep your jute rug dry to prevent staining. A hand steamer might be your best friend if you have a synthetic woven rug. Rug care is easy once you get the hang of it.
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