DIY Cleaning tips-Are They From a Professional?

A couple times a week I search other blogs about area rug cleaning. The most popular usually are the Do-It-Yourself (DIY)/Green Cleaning/Money Saving blogs.

Nothing wrong with trying to save money and keeping your house chemical free, but where is the advice coming from?

The blogs about DIY rug cleaning are mostly by every day people and not always by professional area rug cleaners.

One of the most important things missing from a lot of these blog posts is what kind of rug/carpet they cleaned. They usually don't say and that is where problems can arise.

Cleaning a synthetic area rug is much easier than a wool area rug. Synthetic rugs are mostly made from Olefin or Polypropylene (types of plastics). They are a great rug to have around small children, pets and in entry ways. They don't absorb spills and last a long time.

When spills or pet accidents happen on a synthetic rug, it is the cotton and jute foundation that absorbs the liquid and smells not the actual rug fibers.

Most cleaners and spot removers are made for synthetic carpets and area rugs, not for wool. They are too strong to use on Wool area rugs. A lot of the spot removers were made when carpet was the most used floor covering. Now hardwood/tile are the most used flooring.

Using the wrong spot removers on a wool area rug can ruin your rug. I use the analogy that wool area rugs are just like the hair on our heads. It is the hair of a sheep, it has cuticles and grows just like our hair and is sensitive to a lot of chemicals. We don't use harsh chemicals or strong shampoos on our hair, why use them on our wool rugs? The results are similar. Use bleach on a wool rug and the wool lightens or dissolves, same as our hair.

Since you cannot be sure of what kind of rug they are talking it about it is like playing Russian Roulette with your cleaning results.

There are safe spot removers for wool. Water is your safest spot remover. A damp White Cotton towel can get rid of a lot of every day spills.

White Vinegar and water is good for fresh, wet pet accidents. Once a pet urine has dried it is pretty much a permanent yellow stain, on wool, cotton, jute and sometimes synthetic.

For red wine put a White Cotton towel on the spill and stand on it. Keep stepping on the towel until either the towel is saturated or you are not getting any more wine off the rug. If you are still seeing wine come up, change to a new towel and keep stepping around the spill.

Club soda, water, salt, dry oatmeal also work at helping remove red wine. The salt and oatmeal absorb the wine, also works for any wet spills.

If you can still see the wine spill, wet a White Cotton towel until it is damp, and keep the spill moist and get it to your rug cleaners as soon as you can. Keeping the spill wet helps the wine not set and stain your rug.

Things to Never use on a Wool area rug are Baking Soda, and any other spot treaters that do not have a Wool safe symbol or say safe for wool. Always do a test spot no matter what you use for spot treatments. Every area rug is different and will react differently even to the same type of spill.

Out of all the stain, cleaning and spot removal advice out there the best things are a White Cotton towel, water, salt, and your professional area rug cleaners.

In a perfect world spills would never happen, in our world they happen every day. Drop by Luv-A-Rug to get your free bottle of our own spot remover. 445 Beta St, (off Alpha St) Victoria, BC 250-590-6210

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary, Your Victoria BC area rug cleaning expert!

Results Not Typical

This is the wool Chobi rug that had the wine spill on it. No really, it is!!

We were surprised that it completely disappeared and the client was overjoyed.

It isn't every rug that we can get red wine out of. Plus if it happens again on this rug we cannot predict if we can make it disappear again.

Area rugs have a habit of reacting differently every time they are cleaned. People ask us what to do when a red wine spill happens.

I don't like to give spot removal advice because so much can go wrong.

I will pass along what others have passed onto us with the warning that it is at your own risk.
I nor Luv-A-Rug is responsible for any results due to the application of any spot removal treatments.

Okay with that out of the way. People have poured salt on red wine, dry regular oats, they suck up the red wine, some have even counteracted the red wine by pouring white wine on the spill (not recommended due to the fact that you are now pouring out more wine).

The best thing to do is to take a plain white cotton towel and put it on the spill and stand on it. The cotton will suck up the wine.

If you are not able to get it in to your professional rug cleaner, keep the spot moist, not too wet, and leave the cotton towel on the spill with weight to keep the towel down on the rug.

Wool area rugs stain very easy by red wine. The same berries used to make red wine were also used to dye the wool when the rug was woven. Now back to the Chobi area rug.

This is the back of the rug. There is no evidence of the wine spill at all. The really great thing is the colours did not fade with the treatment used to combat the red wine.

As it should be when a professional, trained and experienced area rug cleaner would achieve.

The unknown pink spot remained, unfortunately. Considering how large the red wine spill was the little pink spot can be overlooked.

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary