Carpet & Rug Care & Maintenance

Cleaning And Caring For Your Carpets and Rugs
Here are some useful tips on caring for the carpets and rugs in your home to keep them looking fresh and attractive

Sun Damage  to your carpet and rugs

Contemporary oriental rug dyes are fairly resistant to sun fading or bleaching they are not as unstable as natural or vegetable dyes. If you have a vintage or antique rug however, you should take special care to protect your rug from direct sunlight. Even modern woolen or silk rugs will suffer if direct light is falling on them for an extended period of time.
Sunlight will cause carpet colours to fade even on synthetic carpets and rugs and affects the texture of the fibres, making the pile less flexible and bouncy.
Use sheer curtains to filter the sun on a rug and  rotate the rug to ensure even wear. It is also a good idea to change the position of the rugs in your  home from time to time.

Do you need Rug Pads?

A thick, heavy rug does not need any extra padding underneath usually, but if you have a thin rug or one that has had repairs done or an older rug then a rug pad will extend the life of your rug and make it more comfortable to walk on.

Rug pads help to stop oriental or Persian rugs sliding around on hard flooring and so even if a rug does not need cushioning a pad can make it safer, a pad provides a layer between  the pile of a rug on a hard floor and  softens the impact from footfall   and pads can make the rug more comfortable underfoot.
A pad ought to be about an inch smaller than the rug around its edge (not counting the fringe) so that the pad cannot be seen under the rug.

Choose a  good quality rug pad that is going to last and is not coloured in case the colour transfers to your floor or the carpet underneath. Polyester pads that are approximately half an inch thick are ideal. Rubber pads are not good to use because they deteriorate over time and crumble and other rubber pad types can become sticky.

Curled Corners and Curled Edges

When a rug curls over at a corner it might seem due to wear and tear but this problem is  actually due to a flaw in the original rug weaving technique. Curled edges cannot be corrected by repeated straightening or weighing them down, they require the attention of an experienced rug repair professional.
A rug with badly curled-under corners will cause the rug to wear unnaturally and it can damage the rug it is better to have the rug repaired if at all possible.