Guide · For the trade
Rug care: the maintenance plan to hand the client with the rug
Rug care for a wool rug comes down to four lines: vacuum weekly with the beater bar off, blot spills with water and a white towel within minutes, rotate the rug 180 degrees twice a year and send it out for professional washing every 3 to 5 years, or every 12 to 18 months in a hall or dining room. Viscose, silk and the plant fibers follow different rules, which is why the plan is written per rug.
This guide is for the designer or junior who closes a project with a care sheet in the binder. It covers what goes in the plan, the schedule by fiber, what the client may and may not use on a wool rug, when to call a professional and the questions clients ask six months after install. Shedding has its own guide, the wool rug shedding guide; this page is the plan around it.
Why a written plan and what goes in it
A rug cared for correctly in its first year keeps its pile, its color and its warranty; one scrubbed with a grocery-store carpet spray in month two is the rug the client calls about in month three. The plan is one page per rug: the fiber and construction as the mill lists them, the vacuum setting, the spill procedure, the rotation dates, the professional cleaning interval, the name of a rug washer the designer trusts and the mill's care sheet behind it. Most of our mills publish one; Stanton and Fabrica carry a care note on the spec and we send it with the order. The plan also records the pad and its install date, because the pad has a life too.
The schedule by fiber
| Fiber | Vacuum | Spills | Professional cleaning | Do not |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wool, hand-knotted or hand-tufted | Weekly, suction only, beater bar off | Blot with water and a white cotton towel; mild neutral-pH wool detergent if needed | Full immersion wash every 3 to 5 years; 12 to 18 months with traffic or pets | Alkaline cleaners, vinegar, dish soap, steam, rental extraction machines |
| Wool, flatweave or kilim | Weekly, both faces twice a year | Blot; the weave releases spills faster than pile | Wash every 3 to 5 years; flip the rug between washes | Beater bar on fringe or selvedge |
| Viscose, bamboo silk, Tencel | Weekly, suction only, low setting | Blot dry immediately; water alone marks the fiber | Dry-solvent specialist only, every 2 to 3 years | Water, any liquid cleaner, bathrooms, dining rooms, halls |
| Silk | Weekly, suction only, low setting | Blot dry; call a specialist for anything beyond water | Specialist hand wash every 3 to 5 years | Water, sunlight, traffic |
| Sisal, jute, seagrass | Weekly, strong suction | Blot; dry-cleaning powder for spots | Dry method only, every 1 to 2 years | Wet extraction, which browns and shrinks the fiber |
| Polypropylene, performance fibers | Weekly, beater bar acceptable on low pile | Blot; most household cleaners are safe; bleach solution on solution-dyed only | Hot water extraction every 1 to 2 years | Heat; the fiber melts at a low temperature |
| Cowhide, sheepskin | Shake and brush; light suction | Blot; damp cloth on hide; wool wash on sheepskin | Specialist only | Soaking, direct sun |
The intervals are starting points: a dining room rug under young children is cleaned on the short end, a bedroom rug under a couple on the long end. The viscose rugs guide and the natural fiber rugs guide go deeper on the fibers that break the wool rules.
Wool carpet care: the spill procedure the client follows
- Lift solids with a spoon; blot liquids at once with a dry white cotton towel, from the edge of the spill toward the center. No rubbing.
- Apply cool water from a spray bottle, blot again and repeat until the towel comes up clean. Most wine, coffee and pet accidents come out here if it happens within ten minutes.
- If a mark remains, a neutral-pH wool detergent diluted as the label says, applied to the towel, not the rug, then rinsed with water and blotted.
- Dry flat with a fan; lift the rug off the pad if the spill soaked through.
- What remains is a professional's job. The plan's rule: the client calls the cleaner, not the hardware store.
Wool is protein, like hair and alkaline chemistry damages it: dish soap, most carpet sprays and every "oxy" product strip the lanolin and leave a dull, faster-soiling patch that reads as a stain forever. Wool carpet care uses the same chemistry and the same prohibition.
How often to clean a wool rug professionally
When the rug is dirty under the surface, not on it. Lift a corner and tap the back over a white sheet; if grit falls, the rug is due. For most living rooms that is every 3 to 5 years; for dining rooms, halls and any rug with a dog, every 12 to 18 months. The right method for a hand-made wool rug is a full immersion wash at a rug plant: dusting, a wash with controlled water and neutral detergent, a rinse and a flat or hung dry. On-site hot water extraction, the truck-mount service used on wall-to-wall carpet, is for synthetic broadloom; on a hand-knotted or hand-tufted wool rug it leaves the foundation wet and can run dyes. The plan names a plant washer; we can suggest one in the client's city.
Rotation, sun and the pad
Rotate every rug 180 degrees twice a year so the side nearest the window fades at the same rate as the side under the sofa and the traffic lane moves; the time changes are easy dates to remember. Specify a UV film on a south-facing window where a silk or a saturated wool sits; the colorfastness guide covers what fades. Replace a felt-and-rubber pad every 8 to 10 years and a thin rubber pad every 3 to 5, before it crumbles and marks the floor. Vacuum under the rug when it is rotated; the grit that cuts fibers lives at the back.
Questions designers ask
What does the plan tell the client to do when a rug gets dirty?
Vacuum weekly with suction only, blot spills with water at once and send the rug to a plant washer when grit taps out of the back. Nothing from the grocery aisle goes on wool, viscose or silk. The plan lists the washer's number.
What is the 70 percent rule for rugs?
A sizing rule, not a care rule: the rug covers about 70 percent of the floor, leaving 18 inches at the walls in a standard room. It matters to care because a correctly sized rug keeps its edges out of the traffic lane, where curling and wear start. The area rug size guide has the numbers.
Can the client use vinegar and dish soap on a wool rug?
No. Dish soap is alkaline and leaves a residue that attracts soil and a vinegar-and-soap mix dulls the pile and can set the stain. On synthetic broadloom the mix is harmless; on wool, viscose, silk and the plant fibers it does lasting damage. Water and a neutral wool detergent are the whole kit.
What does professional rug cleaning cost and should the plan budget for it?
Plant washing is priced by the square foot and varies with fiber, size and the client's city; we do not publish a number. The plan should say that a 9x12 wool rug is washed every few years and that the cost is small against the rug. Viscose and silk cost more to clean, one more reason they belong in low-traffic rooms.
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