I love finding an awesome old rug at the thrift store for next to nothing in cost. Awhile back we got this cute little rug but it was a little worn. We kept it in the closet but the now that we aren't renting and the house is low traffic, I thought it was time to try to clean this rug.
You will need a washing machine or a bathtub that can be used for a few hours, laundry soap, and fabric softener (optional) on top of the items in the picture (white vinegar, baking soda, toothbrush, sponge and scrub brush). To start, clean out a sponge and use it to wet the carpet. Just dab it on bit by bit. You want the rug to be damp to the touch.
Next I sprinkled on some baking soda, letting it sit for five minutes and then scrubbing it into the rug. While you are scrubbing, you don't need to apply a ton of pressure, you don't want to pull up the threading in the rug aka carpet snags (as you can see that had perviously happened to this rug). Just rub it in in a slow soft circular pattern, if you feel it pull, just stop and make sure you aren't doing any damage.
I took my time with scrubbing in the soda, as you can see its rubbed in a little but not too much, you just want to make sure the baking soda is penetrating the rug and not just sitting on the surface. To make sure the carpet wasn't drying out I would wet my scrub brush and then keep going. I scrubbed for about 5 minutes gently, allowing the baking soda even more time to clean out the rug.
The next step is to make a pure vinegar spray. If you want to pour it on that is also fine, for me this worked well and was a more even application of the vinegar. I used 2 cups on this rug all together. Once the baking soda is rubbed in, just mist the vinegar evenly going back and forth. You want to see some foaming, thats the magic cleaning action! Once it is on the rug and foaming up wait for 20 minutes, letting the baking soda and vinegar foam up and deep clean the rug.
Once 20 minutes is up, get to scrubbing! . Use the scrub brush to get all the baking soda and vinegar working deep in the rug. If it has dried out too much, you can always reapply more baking soda and then add more vinegar (check the rug after the first 10 minutes of the 20 minute soak). After everything is rubbed in, grab the tooth brush and start cleaning the stains. You can dip the tooth brush into the baking soda for extra cleaning power, and then after the scrub spray it with a little bit of vinegar and let it sit, going back to it after 5 minutes. Keep doing this till all the visible stains are gone, it took me about 15 minutes but this is a pretty small rug. If you have a bigger rug with lots of smaller stains, you might want to break up different parts of the rug and do them at different times so you can get all the stains out and wont be so rushed.
After the rug is scrubbed and ready to go, bring it to the sink and rinse as much of the baking soda and vinegar mixture off. You will see so much of the dirt come out! Now fill up the wash with warm water and a small amount of laundry soap. I used 1 tablespoon of Woolite on this rug because its a little gentler, I would recommend sticking to gentler laundry detergent for these kinds of projects to be safe. Add the rug to the soapy water, moving it around and scrubbing it with your hands. I let the rug soak for 30 minutes. Do not run the rug through the wash unless it specifically says on the tag that it is machine washable. Most of my rugs have to be hand washed, putting through a machine would destroy the rug.
After the rug is scrubbed and ready to go, bring it to the sink and rinse as much of the baking soda and vinegar mixture off. You will see so much of the dirt come out! Now fill up the wash with warm water and a small amount of laundry soap. I used 1 tablespoon of Woolite on this rug because its a little gentler, I would recommend sticking to gentler laundry detergent for these kinds of projects to be safe. Add the rug to the soapy water, moving it around and scrubbing it with your hands. I let the rug soak for 30 minutes. Do not run the rug through the wash unless it specifically says on the tag that it is machine washable. Most of my rugs have to be hand washed, putting through a machine would destroy the rug.
Remove the rug and let the water drain out, I wiped out the machine for any extra soap or dirt. Make sure weather you use the machine washer or the tub you get all the grime out, you don't want it sneaking back into the rug. I then rinsed the rug in the sink again, getting out as much of the soap as I could. I ran the wash again, I added a half a tablespoon of fabric softener to keep the rug nice and soft. then I put the rug into wash again, letting it soak for 20 minutes, moving it around every few minutes to make sure it is getting evenly soaked. Once again, unless the rug says you can, do not let the wash cycle start, just use the machine as a soaking station. You want to get out all of the dirt and stuff you used to clean the rug, so make sure you are moving the rug around and rinsing the rug as much you can to get all the build up off. Pull out the rug and rinse the rug in a sink till water runs clear.
Get as much of the water out by wringing it over the sink or laundry machine. I spent a good 10 minutes getting as much of the water out as I could. The more moisture you can get out with your hands means less time waiting for it to air dry. I started on the top of the rug and worked my way down. If you have a laundry line you an pin up the rug and that helps the moisture go down in one direction, as opposed to drying the wring it out on a flat surface where the moisture will move around freely. Make sure to smooth out the rug as much as possible after wringing it out, you want it to go back to its intended shape and the wringing can cause creasing of the rug depending on the rug. If you are using the tub, you can always hang the rug up on the curtain rod, but put a towel below it or water will get all over.
Then put the rug on a clean drying rack. We have one with a top that could fit the rug on it, so I put that in a room that gets plenty of light. Light will also help get the rug nice and bright, as well and kill and mildew build up in the rug. However, if you leave a rug in direct sunlight for an extended amount of time, you run the risk of "bleaching" it or causing color discoloration. I turned the rug around once a day to make sure both sides were getting evenly dry. It is winter and pretty chilly so it took about 3 days for the rug to be dry completely. You can try to dry them in the machine dryer if you want too. I have a few bathroom mats that are easy enough to wash and toss in on the lowest setting. However this can damage some materials, so be careful! Some fibers break when exposed to heat like that. If you are worried about the rug being fluffy, add a fabric softener to the last soak.
You have to make sure the rug is completely dry before you put it back out. If the rug still has moisture and is put back on the floor it could mold on the bottom and is more likely to absorb a stain. You should feel no moisture whatsoever when you touch the rug. I waited an extra day just to make sure. Another tip I got from a friend was to put the rug down for an hour, lift it up and see if any moisture is on the floor, if you find any, put the rug back up to dry. If you find none the rug is ready to go! If it feels stiff, you might want to give it one more rinse. All the cleaning agents you used can build up in the carpet and its hard to get out. I really took some time rinsing mine out.
I trimmed up any of the carpet snags with a pair of scissors and a comb. Use the comb to brush up the carpet snags to make them easier to cut straight. Cut the carpet snags so they are the same length as the rest of the carpet or it will look like an uneven patch. Only cut the carpet snags once the rug is completely dry, some materials will shrink slightly once they are dried out, which can create unevenness on the carpet from the cut.
The end result was great! the stains came out, the rug is much lighter than it was and feels nice and soft on our feet. Cleaning this rug took me a few hours, but was way cheaper than going to a professional. However, cleaning with this method is always a little risky because sometimes cleaning like this can be hard on older rugs. I have never experienced any damages but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. If it is an family heirloom or something you deeply care for (that wasn't 5 dollars at a thrift store) you might want to go to a professional just in case.
Make sure to take good care of your rugs! Vacuum regularly, if its a smaller rug take it out side and shake it out, then beat it a little to get the dirt knocked out. Only clean it when you have too, I clean my rugs once every 6 months or so (or when the season changes, depending on how much damage was caused). Use rug pads! They make the carpets stay put, they are softer to stand on, and they make the carpet itself last longer by absorbing friction between the floor and the carpet. Thanks for reading! How do you clean your rugs? Comment below to tell me!
Make sure to take good care of your rugs! Vacuum regularly, if its a smaller rug take it out side and shake it out, then beat it a little to get the dirt knocked out. Only clean it when you have too, I clean my rugs once every 6 months or so (or when the season changes, depending on how much damage was caused). Use rug pads! They make the carpets stay put, they are softer to stand on, and they make the carpet itself last longer by absorbing friction between the floor and the carpet. Thanks for reading! How do you clean your rugs? Comment below to tell me!