Tag Archives: Rug Cleaning

5 Best Natural DIY Rug Cleaning Products

In between getting your rug or carpet cleaned by professional rug and carpet cleaners like those at Aladdin Oriental Rug, you might want to enlist the aid of some natural everyday solutions in order to help get rid of incidental stains or grime. Here’s our top five ingredients for a natural, green, everyday cleaning solution.

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Hot Chocolate Stains

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This is the perfect season for you to come closely together with your friends and family, enjoying the warmth of togetherness. This calls for holiday parties, rife with guests and delicious food – and who can forget hot chocolate. It’s the perfect drink that seems to warm you up from the inside – even warming your heart and spirit. However, hot cocoa is a notorious stain culprit – which is why the rug stain removal experts at Aladdin have prepared this brief guide to mitigating the damage that hot chocolate can cause to rugs.

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Removing Wax from Carpets

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With the warmth and coziness of holiday decor, your carpets and rugs will likely come across some risk of being stained with candle wax. There’s no replacement of the feeling of being in a cozy home with lit candles burning bright – but wax can pose a danger to your pristine rugs. Here’s a guide from the rug cleaning experts at Aladdin on how to remove wax from your carpets or rugs.

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Cranberry Sauce Stains

One of Thanksgiving’s classic dishes is cranberry sauce – the perfect tart complement to turkey or savory vegetable dishes, rife with all the fresh savor of Autumn. However, despite its magnificent deliciousness, cranberry sauce is a notorious carpet stainer, perhaps only rivaled by the dastardly beet. Here’s Aladdin’s guide for carpet cranberry sauce stain removal, so you can remain calm, confident, and really enjoy your family get together this Thanksgiving.

 

  • First, scoop up the majority of the sauce with a knife, being careful not to press it down into the carpet fibers (if it’s the more solid, gelatinous kind or has whole cranberries,) then blot the area with a clean cloth or paper towel to absorb as much of it as possible. Then wet a small towel with water, and continue blotting away.

  • Cranberry sauce produces a stain due to it’s tannins – these stains can be removed easily with detergent and hot water.

  • Don’t use natural soap for this, as natural soap make tannins harder to remove from carpets. Make sure, if you’re using bleach, that you use color safe bleach.

  • If the stains don’t come off, repeat the above steps. Just don’t use heat to dry it, as it will set the stain in.

  • If the Cranberry sauce isn’t 100% natural and has food coloring, use an oxygen based color safe bleach like OXO Brite-in or OxiClean according to package directions. Dip a clean rag into the solution and work from the outside edge of the stain inwards in order to prevent spreading it around. Don’t’ get it too wet. Let the solution stay on the stain for at least a half an hour before blotting it up.

  • Use a clean white rag to blot away any moisture, but don’t rinse it. Oxygen bleach usually turns into water within a couple hours – simply let it air dry away from direct sunlight or heat. Then vacuum to restore the pile of the carpet.

  • It’s essential to remember not to get the fabric of the carpet too wet with the cleaning solution as it can cause mildew.

  • If none of these steps work, contact a licensed carpet professional, like those at Aladdin!

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How to clean your oriental rug

For the majority of people, oriental rugs can be considered one of the highest investments people make in home decoration. The payoff is good though – since they add light to a room’s ambience as well as a soft surface for hanging out on top of. However, if you want an oriental rug to last for a long time, you need to make sure that it’s maintained well through regular cleaning. The best way to treat a carpet or rug is to clean it yourself regularly – as this way you’re greatly reducing the chance of any damage occurring, as well as increasing the longevity of your rug.

 

Supplies

You will need a vacuum, gloves, a bucket, a mild dish soap or rug shampoo, a sponge, a brush, a squeegee, and water.

 

Cleaning Process

Step One: Vacuuming

First vacuum the rug’s top and bottom side to get rid of any dirt or dust.

Step Two: Color Testing

Mix the mild soap or cleaner with warm water (not hot) and try applying it to a tiny corner of the rug to ensure it doesn’t mess up the colors.

Step Three: Washing

Use a wet brush or sponge to lather the solution deep inside the rug and allow it to remain a few minutes before rinsing it off.

Step Four: Rinsing

Rinse off the entire rug with a hose so that no soap suds remain on it.

Step Five: Removing Excess Moisture

Use the squeegee to remove as much water as you can from the rug, in the direction of the nap.

Step Six: Drying

Lay out the rug on a flat surface to dry one side at a time.

Step Seven: Relaxing the Rug

Use a vacuum or a soft brush to help loosen up the rug’s fibers to restore their softness and suppleness – as they may have gotten stiff during the washing process.

 

Frequency

While it’s very important to wash rugs when they are dirty, and they do get dirty often – it’s probably not the best approach to simply wash it all the time even when it’s clean. You can test to see if a rug is dirty enough to merit washing by picking a corner of it up and letting it fall to the floor – if a cloud of dust appears, it needs washing. Additionally, rugs need washing when you can visibly see the dirt on them, or if they smell weird. By taking care of soiled rugs as soon as possible, you will greatly extend its softness over time.

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When to know to clean your rug

Some people think that when rugs need to be cleaned they can just beat them against a hard railing to get rid of all the dust. However this isn’t the best approach because it doesn’t provide the most thorough clean. Most fine rugs are made of wool. Wool not only acts as a warm surface, but also as a filter for removing dampness, dust, and bacteria from the air. In many ways, a wool rug or carpet acts as an air filter. Unfortunately, that makes them susceptible to becoming quite dirty over time – so dirty that a simple beating won’t work at all to clean it.

How to know it’s dirty enough to warrant a cleaning

If you want to check how dirty your rug is and if it needs a professional clean, pick up a corner of the rug and kick it’s underside.. If dust and wool fiber fly out don’t worry, that’s normal. But if a massive cloud flies out – it’s probably time to get your rug professionally cleaned. Another cleanliness test can be conducted by rubbing the rug’s fabric f or 10 to 15 seconds, and if your hand comes off dirty, it certainly needs a clean.

Cleaning Methods

The best way to clean is by placing a rug in a utility room or area where you don’t mind getting dirty. A somewhat clean outdoor area is the best. First, vacuum both sides of the rug. Then shampoo the rug with cool water and soap – the best kind is a rug shampoo. Never use ammonia or a harsh detergent. Always test the shampoo against any color run in a small area of the rug first. Then use a soft long hair brush or a firm sponge that doesn’t shed. Brush or rub it against the rug in the direction of the weave when it’s fully covered in soapy water. Wash fringes as well, and always brush them away from the rug. Then rinse off the rug with water – you can use a window squeegee to get out all the excess water – but always do so in the direction of the weave. Lay out the rug flat to dry, and once the exposed side feels fully dry, flip it over to allow the other side to dry. If the rug is way too stiff, brush it gently or vacuum it lightly. If the stain still remains, take it to a professional rug cleaner.

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Carpet Cleaning Vs. Rug Cleaning

Similar terms, different processes

You’d be surprised how many people don’t know the difference between carpets and rugs. Usually the terms are somewhat interchangeable on a vernacular level, but in fact they refer to different processes. In this blog post I’ll detail the differences between carpet cleaning and rug cleaning.

Carpet cleaning refers to cleaning pre-installed wall to wall carpets. There’s many potential methods one can use to do so, but hot water extraction is one of the best methods of removing impacted and embedded allergens, mold, dirt, and dust.

Rug cleaning

This refers to the cleaning of removable rugs that can be rolled up. This process entails sanitization with spray – in cases of odor damage due to pet urine- in order to kill any remaining bacteria. Afterwards, the rug will be completely immersed in a solution that neutralizes the heavy alkaline salts within the urine, allowing for a more complete removal of the urine residue. After the rug has absorbed the neutralizer for enough time, it will be rinsed off, and wrung out to remove all moisture. This part of the process gets rid of any odor.

The rug will now be given a hand scrub on both sides with a shampoo specifically matched for the rug’s material and construction. After the rug receives a thorough hand washing, it will be rinsed off and wrung out again, groomed with a brush, and hung to dry in a climate controlled heat room. After the rug dries, it will be closely inspected for any remaining soil, stains, or spots. If there any, the rug will be subjected to the entire process again. It’s worthwhile to note that it is completely essential that all water and moisture from the rug is thoroughly extracted – as it needs to be completely dry.

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Spring Cleaning Allergy Tips

 

As the thermometer creeps up and Spring and Summer arrive, many people will begin sneezing – a sign that allergy season has officially started. While the warmth of the sun surely will be welcome over the freeze of a few months ago, it also brings about a large amount of allergens – namely pollen which can make it’s way into the home, and stick inside upholstery and carpets. By utilizing regular carpet cleaning to eliminate impacted allergens and grout cleaning to remove any mold from tiles, you can prevent your allergies from getting that bad, so that instead of suffering from clogged up sinuses and a runny nose, you can get outside and enjoy the much nicer weather. Here’s some great tips for keeping your home healthier and allergy free.

Be Aware of What your Triggers Are

It’s important to learn what allergens trigger allergic reactions in you or your family members. The most common allergy triggers are animal dander, pollen, dust mites, mold spores, and cockroaches. If your triggers are outdoor alxlergens, keep your windows closed. If they are indoor allergens, open all the windows in order to air out the entire house. Read More →

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Top Causes of Residential Water Damage

 

It can happen to any household, at any time. There’s a billion ways it can happen. You walk in, and notice that the entire floor is soaked. This is the extreme scenario. In another, common and more subtle version, a small unchecked leak causes thousands of dollars of damage over the course of a long period of time. Here’s the 4 major causes of residential water damage that require professional intervention.

Nature

You can’t help this. Homes in certain locations are more vulnerable than others. Natural disasters like hurricanes or storms can flood your home with water – and if your home is within a flood zone, just a moderate rainstorm can cause rampant overflowing in nearby creeks or streams, causing water to enter your home. Earthquakes or tremors can make your water pipes crack, causing flooding. There’s no way to prevent a natural disaster from happening, but when it does, it’s important to do everything that you can to safely mitigate the damage.

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Removing Chocolate Stains from Carpets

 

There’s no doubt about it; chocolate is simply the best. Even if it’s not at the bottom of the food pyramid, we can all agree that chocolate simply makes life better. However, regardless of how yummy it is, we simply can’t deal with indelible chocolate stains on your favorite carpet or rug. Chocolate stains are some of the most deep, hardest to remove stains around. Let’s say you’re already dealing with a chocolate stain; here’s how to treat it.

Carefully Scrape it Off

Since chocolate melts quickly in higher temperatures and quickly solidifies in low temperatures, carpets and rugs can get ruined by melted chocolate that becomes a mold as the temperature drops. If you notice dried chocolate on your rug or carpet, try gently rug cleaning method of scraping it off – the key word is ‘gentle’ as you can cause more structural damage to the rug if you’re too rough. While this won’t completely remove the stain, it will help make it less thick and much easier to handle. This way you know that even if the carpet or rug gets exposed to higher temperatures that the chocolate won’t re-melt and spread, causing a larger stain.

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