Tips for Caring For Oriental rugs and carpets

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Fringe Care

The best kind of vacuum for cleaning your carpet or a rug and its fringe is a canister vacuum or an upright without a beater bar. Deluxe Dry carpet cleaning recommend using a canister vacuum because it is easier to control when vacuuming. The beater bar on most vacuums rotates and can snag and tangle or even break the fringe on a rug. Either clean the body of the carpet with your vacuum and hand brush the fringe or switch off the beater bar if that is possible. The biggest source of damage for oriental rugs is the destruction of the fringe by vacuum cleaners. Once the fringe is damaged the rug is then susceptible to damage especially  if the fringe is an integral part of the carpet. Even if the fringe is an attachment, when it is damaged it makes the rug look less attractive

Vacuuming

Vacuum your rug  with a suction-only vacuum cleaner, don’t use a beater bar or switch it off if possible. Using  a vacuum with a beater bar can spoil the rug fringe. Vacuum regularly to remove superficial loose soil and dirt and prevent it from lodging in the fibres of your rug Grit is abrasive and if left on the surface of your carpet it falls into the fibres and then with the action of shoes it wears the carpet fibres and causes damage. Turn your rug over from time to time and vacuum the back side to remove dirt and dust.

Rotate your rug every few weeks if you can remember. Rotating your rug spreads the wear and fading from any  light source.  If you see that strong sunlight is falling on your rug, you should move it. Sunlight will fade the colours and spoil the appearance of a rug very quickly.

If you want your rug to be under a sofa or a dining room table then use casters for the feet of the sofa. They prevent damage to your rug, heavy furniture can tear the rug if you move it and will distort and squash the pile.

Outdoor shoes should be removed in the house so that dirt from outside is not brought on to your rug, gum and tar are often stuck to the soles of outdoor shoes and deposited on rug fibres.