Let’s say you have this beautiful area rug that you love and had placed to protect your equally as beautiful hardwood floors, how would you clean it? Do you know? Well, here are some amazingly helpful tips that you can follow to ensure that you have a clean area rug and also gorgeous damage-free hardwood floor. Fall back in love with your floors:
- Step 1- You should always be very cautious of your hardwood floors, hardwood floors are very easy to scratch or stain, you should always be extra careful when moving your rug or when using any sprays that could seep into the floor to keep damage to a minimum. Always use a protective layer between your rug and your floor.
- Step 2- Vacuum- You want to start by vacuuming with a vacuum cleaner the whole area, in order to make sure that you have removed all the dirt, dust, or anything that could be potentially hazardous, however, you should also make sure that you vacuum the rug itself to remove any hair, dust, or dirt. You should always vacuum before you shampoo so that you aren’t attempting to clean a rug that still has dirt stuck to it.
- Step 3- Spot clean- Before you start to shampoo, you should always lay a protective layer between the rug itself and the hardwood floor to protect the hardwood from any potential damage, such as stains from the shampoo or even water damage. After making sure your floors are 100% protected, you then want to shampoo your rug. You can shampoo the rug by hand or you can use a carpet shampooer using this mixture: 2 cups of warm water and 1 teaspoon of dish soap. Apply the concoction to any stains you see with a soft bristle brush and let it sit for 10 minutes before using a damp clean rag to remove the mixture and the stain with it. If the stain is still visible, you can go back over it with a mixture of oxygen-based bleach and warm water before letting it sit for 1-2 hours.
- Do not move the protective layer under the rug until it is fully dry. You can allow for a quicker dry time if you place the rug on a stack of books or plastic bowls to allow more air circulation.
- To remove any odors in/on your rug, you should sprinkle baking soda over the entire rug surface. If the rug is or p yr maybe you have a long rug, it would be helpful to use a sponge mop so the mixture gets worked into the fibers. You can let it sit overnight for the best results and then vacuum it all away in the morning. Baking soda absorbs all odors and will also loosen any grime that may have been stuck in the fibers.
Now that you have all of this helpful information to help, you can successfully clean your area rug on hardwood floors, while at the same time you are also protecting your hardwood flooring from any sort of damage.